Cat A slot machines?

[Matrix2021]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could help with my query. I’ve got an American friend who has asked why our slot jackpots are capped at £10k in our land based casinos, whilst online we have unlimited multi-million jackpots with high stakes.

From some basic searching, I’m assuming the slots you see in Vegas with unlimited jackpots would come under Cat A by U.K classifications(?) I’m just trying to find any articles from official sources as to why we don’t have any - the gambling commission website gives the breakdown of the categories, but for Cat A it just says:

“Cat A machines are the only machines with unlimited stakes and prizes. However, no category A gaming machines are currently permitted.”

Does anyone have any links to industry news, articles, government papers etc as to the rationale for not making these permissible?

Thanks in advance for any info!

 

[jasonuk]

Thinking back to 2005, the government of the day were considering allowing "regional casinos" (commonly known as "super casinos" in the press), with unlimited-jackpot slot machines (intended to be Category A as defined in the

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).

When the overall regulation was fully implemented in 2007, this idea was being kicked into the long grass (and was subsequently scrapped in 2008, although "large" casinos such as Aspers Stratford went ahead) so they decided to define only category B (spanning casino machines - initially £4k but increased to £10k+£10k later, FOBTs, private member clubs and so on), C (pub AWPs) and D (entertainment centres - seaside arcades and the like).

So the question is, if the UKGC states that category A machines are not permitted, what is the definition? They helpfully mention that machines have unlimited stakes and prizes (and that certainly is the intent), but the actual

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is a bit more glib...

Definition of Category A gaming machine
7. A Category A machine is a machine which is not a Category B, C or D machine.

?

 

[Matrix2021]

Thinking back to 2005, the government of the day were considering allowing "regional casinos" (commonly known as "super casinos" in the press), with unlimited-jackpot slot machines (intended to be Category A as defined in the

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

).

When the overall regulation was fully implemented in 2007, this idea was being kicked into the long grass (and was subsequently scrapped in 2008, although "large" casinos such as Aspers Stratford went ahead) so they decided to define only category B (spanning casino machines - initially £4k but increased to £10k+£10k later, FOBTs, private member clubs and so on), C (pub AWPs) and D (entertainment centres - seaside arcades and the like).

So the question is, if the UKGC states that category A machines are not permitted, what is the definition? They helpfully mention that machines have unlimited stakes and prizes (and that certainly is the intent), but the actual

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

is a bit more glib...



?

Thanks Jason for that insight. Interesting that the “Super casinos” never materialised. I’ve always wondered whether if the Cat A machines were permitted, would we have a much better selection of slot manufacturers on the casino floor, and not just the plethora of IGT and Novomatic games - I believe SG were in the market but dropped out some years ago. Maybe the times of seeing Aristocrat and Everi are a long way off.