Cashless payments on gaming machine ‘significant victory’

These will be allowed, once appropriate player protections have been put in place. The protections will be consulted on by the Gambling Commission and could feature cardholder verification, breaks in play and transaction limits as well as staff alerts when mandatory and voluntary limits are reached.

The consultation on the Gambling Act Review white paper ran from 26 July to 4 October 2023 and invited views on the details of a range of proposals and the measures that were consulted on were deemed necessary to modernise the ‘outdated and overly restrictive regulations that apply to the land-based gambling sector’, according to the DCMS.

Future-proofing industry

The Government department added the use of non-cash payments has increased greatly across society and some sectors, particularly machines in pubs, are seeing business disappear because customers aren’t carrying cash.

It predicted by removing the prohibition on debit card payments on the machines, it will help future-proof the industry.

However, the measure will only come into force when the DCMS is confident the right player protections are in place.

Valuable revenue stream

Moreover, existing limits on stakes and prizes for all categories of gaming machine will remain unchanged.

A joint statement from UKHospitality and the British Beer & Pub Association welcomed the announcement.

The trade bodies said: “This is significant victory for pubs that use gaming machines and the move to allow cashless payments will preserve a valuable revenue stream.

“We absolutely support linking the introduction of cashless payments to the implementation of player protections and we look forward to working with the Gambling Commission in any way we can.

“We’re pleased the Government has listened to our concerns on this issue and acted to ensure this type of entertainment in pubs remains safe and is future-proofed.”