Nervous times for bookies - and racing as well

The portents for the betting industry from the government's announcement suggest that bookmakers might need to prepare for bad news.

That will not come as a surprise to the betting industry given press coverage in the last few weeks that has promised a "crackdown" on gaming machines and has quoted a "senior minister" as saying "the gambling industry's luck has run out".

Bookmakers will have taken some comfort from the promise that the review would be "evidence-based", giving them the opportunity to bring in research and outline the efforts they have made to combat problem gambling.