Joseph Cullis, President of Bacta, the trade association representing the British amusements and low-stake gaming sectors, has chosen the sixth anniversary of lockdown to call for the business-critical reforms that he said are required to help the land-based industry recover to pre-Covid trading levels.
Highlighting the need for government to review stake and prize levels for the first time since 2014 and amend the 80/20 machine ratio he said: “March 23rd is the sixth anniversary of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing the first lockdown, ordering people to stay at home.
“Our industry was one of the first to be shut down and one of the last to re-open. The majority of Bacta member businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises: I know from my own experience quite how damaging that period was and how difficult it has been to recover to anything like pre-Covid trading levels.”
He added: “In what is a highly regulated industry in which operators of gaming equipment are not permitted to pass-on increased costs to consumers, we rely on the intervention of government in order for our businesses to remain viable. For some gaming machine categories, stake and prize levels have remained at their current levels since 2014. After more than a decade without changes to many stake and prize limits, the need for action is becoming increasingly urgent.”
“Securing a more progressive machine ratio in line with player needs and an uplift in stake and prize levels is required to simply keep pace with inflation.
“Without regular increases in the maximums permitted, the industry’s ability to bring jobs and economic benefit to the high street and to coastal communities is severely diminished.”
