In what is a highly regulated industry businesses are dependent on government intervention to ensure that they are able to compete on a level playing field. Many of the industry’s SMEs have struggled to recover to pre-COVID trading and are now facing a tsunami of rising costs. The industry needs what Bacta President Joseph Cullis has described as ‘business critical’ reforms including a review of stake and prize levels and amendments to the 80/20 machine ratio.
Bacta President Joseph Cullis has underlined the importance of what he described as the ‘business critical’ reforms that are required to help the land-based industry recover from the twin body blows delivered by COVID-19 and more recently the exponential increase in business costs.
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: “The country is marking the anniversaries of events that are etched in the memory of every citizen and every business owner. March 16th is the sixth anniversary of Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing it was time to stop non-essential contact and travel. A week later on 23rd March he announced the first lockdown, ordering people to stay at home with the lockdown measures legally coming into force three days later.
“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 SMEs and 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: “We know from surveying Bacta members how the increase in operating costs is undermining the viability of so many businesses. In fact, over 61 percent of respondents to the Bacta Pulse survey of members cited rising costs as constituting the single biggest threat to their livelihoods.
“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 undermined and diminished.”
Urgent need for regular reviews
Joseph Cullis said… “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 undermined and diminished…
Originally published on Coinslot on March 16, 2026. Republished with permission.