It was always going to be the case that all UK bookmakers would launch a range of new betting products as a way of reducing the impact regarding the new maximum stake limit imposed on them by the UK Gambling Commission in relation to their FOBT’s.
However, several bookmakers have been told they face some stiff penalties for launching some of those products which have hastily now been removed.
One new change regarding the popular Roulette games found on many bookie FOBT’s is that punters can, in William Hill owned and operated betting shops, place a £2 maximum bet on the roulette wheel and spin the wheel as normal, in the hope that any of their chosen number’s spin in.
But punters can opt to place bets onto the roulette wheel with stakes of over £2 in value but must first play off a game to determine whether they can then spin the roulette wheel. That initial game is one on which a bar which is coloured green will have a much higher percentage of its surface area coloured red, based on just what stakes a player has place onto the roulette reel.
A line then bounces up and down the bar and if it lands in the green area the wheel will then spin, but if the line lands in the red area the punter loses their £2 stake.
Betfred on the other hand had launched a virtual cycling game on which punters can bet up to £500 per game, and Paddy Power launched a game called Pick ‘n’ 36 on which punters could gamble up to £100 per game, but would have to place their bets on that game which has an air of roulette about it over the counter, as opposed to betting on it via a FOBT.
There are lots of ways that bookies are going to be able to circumvent the new lowering of the stakes on their FOBT machines and there will be plenty of new replacement betting products launched moving forward.
