MPs question adult gaming centre about-turn

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There is no reprieve for England’s adult gaming centres – arcades with AWP machines and an over-18s only rule – despite last-minute lobbying and a reported 100 Members of Parliament tabling questions in the House of Commons.



Boris Johnson’s government had listed AGCs among the non-essential retail businesses that would be permitted to reopen today, but only on Friday did a U-turn and withdrew the permission.

Now the AGCs, along with the FECs that are so important to coastal resort towns for family entertainment, will remain closed, probably until July 4.

The protest was led by trade association BACTA, that held urgent talks with the government ministry tasked with overseeing gambling in the UK, the DCMS, and with its political contacts. It also garnered support from among its members and was pleasantly surprised at the response, with so many MPs asking questions.

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The most-posed question was why AGCs have had their permission rescinded yet their main competition, the bookmakers’ shops have not, creating a situation of profound unfairness. It is believed that the main reason lying behind the different treatment is the lack of understanding by politicians of the way in which AGCs operate.

Even the national press in the UK has reported sympathetically on the AGCs’ plight. The left-wing publication The Guardian said on Friday that the MPs writing to the prime minister had warned of thousands of redundancies in the business after the last-minute about-turn on reopening.

The newspaper said: “The decision has prompted fury within the industry and among MPs….well placed sources said that the prime minister was still considering what to do on Friday evening, leaving AGCs facing an uncertain 48 hours.”

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It reported that the AGC sector had invested heavily in health and safety measures, preparing to open, buying personal protection equipment for employees, installing protective barriers between machines and setting out detailed cleaning protocols.

Additionally, thousands of staff had been taken off furlough in readiness for reopening at a cost of around £2m. The locations had ‘raided their cash reserves’ to find £100m to load coin floats in the machines.

The industry was not hopeful of another about-turn at the weekend, leaving around 3,000 AGCs shuttered for another lock-down period.

The reopening drama concerned only those locations in England, as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own governments yet to finalise their own plans.

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