Rules to limit gambling on high stakes fruit machines have been welcomed by Wandsworth's council leader.

Councillor Ravi Govindia's approval comes after the government announcement on Thursday, May 17 that the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) will be limited to £2.

Under the current rules, FOBTs currently allow people to gamble £100 every 20 seconds.

Cllr Govindia has often voiced concerns about the spread of these machines in the high street and has been a vocal supporter of a cross-party campaign by the Local Government Association to limit the impact of betting shops and their fixed-odds betting terminals.

He said: “This is very welcome news. I wholeheartedly support this lower and much more sensible limit on what can be gambled in one go. A maximum stake of £2 is absolutely the right approach.

“These new rules will hopefully act as a brake that curtails the further spread of these harmful machines and reduces the damaging impact they can have on vulnerable members of our community.”

The spread of FOBTs plus the proliferation of betting shops in high streets and the promotion of gambling and betting on TV screens can be traced back to The Gambling Act 2005 which liberalised the industry ,removing a lot of the checks and controls that had previously been in place.

Cllr Govindia added: “It was this legislation that that made it much harder for local authorities to oppose new betting shops and FOBTs and which also allowed gambling companies to begin advertising so widely on TV screens. I am pleased that the Government is now beginning to redress this balance.”