Under the proposals, debit card payments will require authentication, such as chip and PIN or biometric verification of the type used for Apple Pay.
Like with cash, there will be a £20 limit on the amount a person can deposit onto a machine in one go, lowered for £2 for low-stake fruit machines, penny falls and crane grabs.
The government says players should have to wait at least 30 seconds after a payment is approved before depositing money onto a machine, to “broadly mirror” time to withdraw cash from an ATM.
There will also be mandatory limits per session, to be set following a separate consultation by the Gambling Commission, a regulator, triggering a 30-second cooling-off period.
Despite objections from the sector, staff working in pubs will be alerted when mandatory limits are hit, along with voluntary limits set by punters themselves. These will not apply to the lowest-stake machines.
The changes will be made via a type of legislation that comes into force automatically, and can only be blocked if the House of Commons or Lords objects within a 40-day window.
However it will only be drafted once the Gambling Commission consultation, to begin in the coming weeks and lasting three months, is complete.
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