She is great.”However, McCartney has always split opinion in the industry. When she was signed by Chloe to replace the German designer Karl Lagerfeld, there was widespread criticism of the appointment.Mr Lagerfeld was reported to have said: “They should have taken a big name They did ­ but in music, not in fashion Let’s hope she is as gifted as her father.”. Gamblers are to be allowed for the first time to use smart cards or banknotes up to the value of £20 in fruit machines in pubs, casinos or high-street arcades. Gamblers are to be allowed for the first time to use smart cards or banknotes
up to the value of £20 in fruit machines in pubs, casinos or high-street
arcades. The move has horrified Gamblers Anonymous, which has warned the Home Office
that it could lead to more misery for gamblers addicted to playing fruit
machines, who now make up 40 per cent of the organisation’s case load.

“There
are horror stories, and lots involving women who are spending hundreds and
hundreds of pounds a day on fruit machines in arcades and pubs,” said a
GA spokesman. The gambling industry estimates it could save £1m a year by avoiding jammed
coins blocking the machines, with another £8m a year on engineers’ visits to
repair them. A Home Office consultation document says the proposal could
also ease the industry’s transition to the euro if the UK joins the single
currency. The law currently allows only coins or tokens to be used in gaming machines,
but the Government included gambling in a list of 51 areas it intends to
deregulate. Other areas include after-hours child care in schools, the
disclosure of names of bootleggers by Customs and Excise, and drinking
restrictions on New Year’s Eve this year and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in
June next year. Ministers said that their answer to the concerns of anti-gambling groups was
to insist that, in future, gaming machines’ software tells gamblers how much
cash they have available to spend on their smart cards and keeps a tally on
how much has been lost. As a BBC documentary on gambling, High Stakes, made clear last week,
Las Vegas may have built its glitzy image on high rollers, blackjack and
stars such as Frank Sinatra, but its cash bonanza was founded on the humble
slot machine.

Gaming machines are a big business in the UK, generating a turnover of £10.4bn
a year, with an estimated £8.8bn paid out in prizes to players. There are
almost 186,000 jackpot and all-cash machines in the UK. The majority of gaming machines ­ 77,900 of them ­ are in pubs, with 26,400 in
bingo halls, 20,000 in high-street arcades, 16,000 in seaside arcades, and
14,500 in betting shops There are 31,000 jackpot machines in casinos and
clubs. The current law does not allow players to bet on credit, and that
will remain the case. Neither will the proposals apply to arcade machines
that children use.