Sure! It started last January when the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) called for “an urgent inquiry” into a FOBT report compiled by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). APPG sought to reduce the maximum stake available on FOBTs from £100 to just £2, and it also called for the reduction of the current maximum of four FOBTs per shop.

I hear you. Of course, the bookmakers opposed and even alleged that APPG pocketed money from organizations that stood to benefit from FOBT curbs.

Damn right, it is! And they were right! Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Hudson found that APPG indeed received money from ABB’s rivals. Hudson also found that APPG’s report failed to keep a record of attendance or take proper minutes at its meetings; and that it failed to clarify that it is not an official publication of the House of Commons.

Nope. Hudson said that these breaches were not grave and there was “no deliberate attempt to mislead.” And since APPG chair Carolyn Harris already apologized for these errors, all is well again.

Yes! ABB’s Malcolm George did not mince words when he said that APPG’s members were “revealed as serial offenders for their misleading report,” which George called “a shambolic, shoddy and one-sided piece of work.”

The bookmakers may have won this first round against the APPG. But until the government finishes its review on UK’s gambling industry, it remains to be seen if they truly won.