Bookie to shut 700 shops as UK curbs on 'crack cocaine' gambling terminals bite hard

William Hill plans to cut about a third of its betting shops and jobs in the UK after the British government slashed the maximum stake permitted on fixed-odds terminals, dubbed the “crack cocaine” of gambling by their critics.

Britain cut the maximum stake allowed to £2 in April after complaints that the machines, which had previously let gamblers bet up to £100 every 20 seconds, were highly addictive and allowed players to rack up big losses.