EQUALITY IN THE UK GAMING SECTOR

That this House notes that the introduction of the Gambling Act 2007 has resulted in negative unintended economic consequences for the traditional UK gaming sector with many venues including seaside arcades, bingo halls and high street arcades having suffered a collapse in their income since 1st September 2007; recognises that the Act, by reducing gaming machine stakes and overall machine numbers in the traditional safer adult gaming venues, has created an uneven playing field with respect to other adult gaming venues; and urges the Government to take immediate action to rebalance the market by reviewing the stake limit on B3 gaming machines, increasing the number of B3 gaming machines to a maximum of 20 per cent. of the total in a venue and undertaking an early review of gaming machine stakes and prizes.