Horse racing is a popular pastime in Great Britain. People, even the royals, love a good gamble. They pick a horse they believe will cross the finish line first. The horse gambling industry is enormous, but this is going to chance. The British government has decided that individuals can place a maximum bet of 2 pounds instead of 100 pounds. This is a huge blow for gambling companies.

Loss of stock-market value gambling

Some gambling companies that focus on horse racing have been active on the stock-market for a while. Their stock-market value has decreased because of the political decision to decrease the maximum bet for horse racing. For example, Ladbrokes recently lost 800 pounds of market value and William Hill, also a big name in the gambling industry, lost 13 percent.

Fight against horse gambling addiction

The British government has made this controversial decision to fight against gambling addictions. Many slots can be found in disadvantaged areas where one loss is a big blow for a poor family. The new measures haven’t been implemented yet. At the moment, the Ministry of Culture, Media and Sports is still taking with the horse gambling sector about the maximum bet decrease from 100 pounds to 50 and even 2 pounds. According to Ladbrokes the new measure won’t help against gambling addictions. Earlier interventions against gambling have been useless as well, the company says. Bad news for for many people It’s a disaster for many people. The online gambling company Ladbrokes Coral says that as a result thousands of jobs in the gambling- and horse driving industry will disappear. The Accountancy Company KPMG researched the possible consequences if the maximum bet becomes 2 pounds. If that happens, about 3000 gambling stores will disappear, which means 15.000 people will lose their jobs. And there will be more consequences. The British gambling houses, also known as ‘bookies’, will lose a big part of their revenue. They usually earn a lot of money with online bets on slots. Bad timing for Ladbrokes It is no surprise that Ladbrokes is not content with the decision of the government. At the moment they’re talking with the online gaming specialist GVC. GVC wants to take over Ladbrokes. How lower the maximum amount per bet will be, how lower the amount of money GVC is willing to pay for the takeover. If the gambling limitation is going to be 50 pounds, about 3.9 billion pounds will be paid. However, with a limit of 2 pounds only 3.2 billion pounds will be paid for Ladbrokes. The company will soon now the outcome.