These restrictions have been expected ever since the government announced a review of gambling legislation in March last year. They follow the similarly illiberal crackdown on physical fixed-odds betting terminals in 2019, which cut the maximum spend per bet from £100 to just £2.
Anti-gambling campaigners have long lobbied hard for these stake limits on less-regulated online slots. They have argued that they are essential for the protection of public health and for limiting problem gambling.
It is true that there is a higher rate of problem gambling associated with online gambling than with gambling in a betting shop or a casino. But it’s not clear that introducing stake limits will have the impact these campaigners desire – that is, actually reducing or tackling addiction.
