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[Mentholdan]

Hi guys, I've spent a great deal of time recently watching dozens of slot streamers on Twitch. I've watched all these streamers play the same games over and over and learnt a lot. You get to know which games are hard to bonus and those that are more frequent, games that play well in the base game and those that have features in the base game. As an example, Genie Jackpots and Goonies give you an extra chance to bonus in base game features. An important fact is that I see people playing £4 & £5 stake regularly and when they do get a bonus they very seldom pay more than a FOBT jackpot of £500 which can be won at £2 stake. What the on line games can do however is completely go off their tits and pay monster amounts in the bonus and sometimes in the base game. 

A question seldom asked and one that puzzles me is this, a £2 bet on the horses in the Bookies can in theory pay mega money so now that the FOBT machines have been limited to £2 maximum stake, then why are their jackpots limited to £500? A FOBT jackpot should be able to pay the same as the on line game don't you think. 

I'm all for capping gambling limits but they shouldn't cap the amount you can win on bookie slots. By doing this people are only being encouraged to gamble on line because the returns potential for the "monster wins" is available but the stake limit is much higher, 100x and 200x the stake of a FOBT is not unusual.

I just don't see why you can play for example, Fishing Frenzy for a £2 stake on line and win say £1200-£1500 and play the same game in the Bookies knowing your max win can only be £500???? 

ANT THOUGHTS?? 

[MikeV]

The £500 limit on FOBTs is a result of government regulations. The bookies and arcades don’t really have a choice. If they were allowed to offer wins larger than £500, I think they would do it. Marketing a higher jackpot would likely get more people through the door to try their luck.

The only entity that can change or increase the £500 jackpot limit is the Gambling Commission. 

[Barney Gumble]

Some of it is to do with money laundering regulations as well. The Old Bill stop a local drug dealer with £5k in his pocket and he claims he got it from a slot machine and not saying which one because he has a winning system. Lottery only pays out £500 in a shop also for similar reasons. Of course crims can are still using bitcoin machines to hide large chunks of money after they phased out the 500 Euro notes. 

Casinos with their 10k jackpot machines have extra security to stop punters losing the plot chasing an obviously rarer big prize and to watch over larger cash amounts circulating the premises. Bookies would need a bouncer or two in each shop if they could offer such wins. 

In all honesty, it is better not to advertise such big wins in public. I would likely soil myself if a massive wild screen rolled in and being nearer my own bathroom is a great comfort.

[Mentholdan]

Well all that's been said doesn't make sense does it, and it's not fair on the punter either. I mean the government have restricted FOBT stakes but on line you can bet what you like but one medium has the potential to pay huge jackpots and the other is limited to £500. Its not as if on line gambling is hard to access, Everyone has a mobile phone. So if a punter wants to bet with larger stakes it's the easiest thing in the world to do. I don't buy the money laundering argument either. I have an account with PP, it comes with a chip and pin cash card, I can use it at the "hole in the wall" use it in shops, I can pay money onto it in their shops, I could get by without any of my gambling money showing up going in or coming out of my bank account. The whole high street betting shop limit stinks. This didn't come in to being from the government acting alone, I can't even begin to imagine how many meetings there wer between the government and the bookies, its a deal. I can just imagine the bookies saying to the ministers about how many shops will close and how many people will lose their jobs, and all the tit for tat offers being banded back and forth before the £2 limit was agreed on. The facts ARE, limiting Fobts to a £2 stake will not help solve problem gambling, you can bet the same stake on line as in the Bookies if you want to, on line slots have the potential to give far bigger payouts, AND THAT IS NOT FAIR. Not a single thing done by the government helps the punter.