Former betting boss says online slot machines need to be slowed down

One of the founders of betting firm Paddy Power says new government rules to protect punters playing online slots don't go far enough.

Stewart Kenny, who helped found the Irish company in the 80s, believes online slot games spin too fast, which contributes to them being addictive.

He thinks new government rules limiting the stakes are not enough to render them safe, and thinks the games should also be slowed down.

From April, slots will be limited to £5 per spin for over 25s. In May, 18-24-year-olds will be limited to £2 per spin.

This follows a government review of the 2005 Gambling Act, and the publication of a white paper which introduces new measures to strengthen gambling harm legislation.

Online slots are web versions of slot machines you see in a casino. The punter enters money and spins a wheel. If the symbols or pictures match, they could win money.

The government said it was bringing in stake limits for them because they are "a higher-risk gambling product associated with large losses, long sessions, and binge play".

But in a new documentary series on Radio 4, Stewart Kenny, who resigned from the board of the betting company in 2016, says the speed of the games is what makes them addictive.

He says the gap between investment and results being "only seconds" means punters can "repeat the dose" at high speed.

In addition to this, he says the machines provide "plenty of noise and plenty of colours", as well as near misses, which are "fundamental to gambling addiction".

The Department for Culture Media and Sport said the Gambling Commission introduced requirements that changed speed and intensity of slots in 2021: "This included a minimum speed of 2.5 seconds per spin, a ban on autoplay and features that increase play intensity, such as turbo, quick spin and slam stop, or give the illusion of 'false wins'."

Gambling companies make a significant proportion of their profits from online slots. Acording to market data collected by the Gambling Commission up to December 2024, the profits from slots increased 15% year on year to a new high of £709m. The number of spins increased 9% in the previous quarter to a new peak of £23.9bn.

Paddy Power merged with another betting brand, Betfair, and under the name Flutter Entertainment, is now one of the biggest betting companies in the world.

Stewart Kenny resigned from the board of Flutter, saying he felt the company was not doing enough to protect vulnerable customers using its websites.

Mr Kenny no longer has any financial interest with the company, and receives no payment for taking part in the programmes.

In the documentary series Changing the Odds, Mr Kenny teams up with journalist Lydia Thomas, who has reported on the betting industry for a decade, to chart 20 years since the 2005 Gambling Act. The act paved the way for the UK betting industry to revolutionise gambling and take it online.

For many years, the UK has been the biggest online betting market in the world – with the industry worth £15.6bn. Only recently has the United States overtaken as more states allow online gambling.

And it is the move online that sparked Mr Kenny's worries when he was sitting on the board. He believes the internet by its very nature can be addictive and that adding online casinos in the mix has "made the cocktail too strong".

Mr Kenny still enjoys gambling, and regularly bets on horse and dog racing, which he believes is a less addictive gambling product. But he criticises the industry for encouraging sports betting punters to move to online slots.

"I have always said I have been very relaxed about my kids opening up betting accounts. But, I would be horrified if my grandchildren open up a betting account.

"What the bookmakers do is, when you open a betting account at the age of 18 to have a bet, and you're a kid and you want to have a fiver on your local team, within 48 hours, the bookmakers will try and suck you into the highly addictive online casino by sending you free spins."

Mr Kenny believes it is up to the government and regulators to make gambling safe.

"There's a balance here. If you want to bet, you should be allowed to bet. It's a free society. So you don't want to interfere with people's entertainment too much. It's so easy to blame the betting companies. This is a matter for legislators."

Flutter Entertainment said it recognised that the gambling industry had not always got things right in the past but said its UK business had "evolved significantly in the years since Stewart's involvement, which ended over eight years ago".

It said in that time, it had been "a vocal and constructive supporter" of the Gambling Act Review and the white paper, while "leading the industry on proactive change" with its introduction of deposit limits for under-25s and the setting of a £10 stake limit on online slot products.

"We were pleased that some of these measures were publicly praised by Stewart as we respect his views."

Gambling industry body The Betting and Gaming Council said: "Each month, around 22.5 million people in Britain enjoy a bet and the overwhelming majority do so safely and responsibly. The BGC supported plans to reform stake limits and introduce a mandatory levy to fund research, prevention and treatment.

"The white paper is a once-in-a-generation moment for change and the proposals contained in it must draw a line under the lengthy and often polarised debates on gambling."

Changing the Odds starts on Radio 4 at 11am on Monday 17 March. You can also find the series on BBC Sounds.