That minimum is now being lowered to one second, while the average length of all the games played in an hour must be at least 2.5 seconds for £1 games and 1.25 seconds for 50p games.

“The Commission is satisfied that a one-second minimum duration of game cycle will provide benefits in terms of making lower-stake games more commercially viable and allowing the development of more interesting features, without compromising the licensing objectives. It is noted that high-tech feature games are generally played at a slower speed than the current minimum, averaging approximately five seconds, and that slower games are not commonly associated with the development of problem gambling,” it said.

The Commission also noted that some legacy machines have much quicker games, and it wants these removed from the market. The duration of a game is measured from the press of the start button to money being lost or won and the start becoming available again.

The consultation on amending these rules attracted 32 responses, all from the gaming sector, with both operators and trade associations represented. All were in favour of introducing a one-second minimum. The revised regulations are likely to become effective later this year after a hiatus to allow the European Commission to comment.

The Commission also altered rules on live jackpots to make it easier to increment the prize in amounts of less than £1, but warned that it “has no intention of exploring the possibility of allowing jackpots to be linked between multiple machines”.

And it revised the rules on game links, such as reel holds. The number of consecutive links from game to game will now be unrestricted as long as the maximum prize is £40 or less, but progressively fewer will be allowed for higher-prize games, with only one permitted at the £70 level and none at all when £100 can be won.

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