Weakened Tory government is disastrous for bookies' FOBT hopes

Every bookmaker with shops on the high street will desperately be hoping they have got the odds right this time and that the most likely year for the next general election is 2017 – and from their point of view the sooner the better.

The situation of a Tory government barely propped up by the Democratic Unionist Party is disastrous for bookmakers who want to retain high-stake fixed odds betting terminals at their present levels. Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who have demanded maximum stakes should be cut from £100 to £2, have a real chance of pushing that through.

The DUP, in its arrangement with Theresa May, will want to strike a deal that has as its priority extra funding for Northern Ireland, but an organisation built on the deep-rooted Presbyterian principles of its founder Ian Paisley may also want to see some of its social agenda enacted.