“The decision not to raise MGD came as a welcome surprise to most people in the sector. Although I wasn’t convinced there would be an increase we planned for a number of scenarios and a 5 percent increase would have cost Game Nation well over £1m.

Now we can stick to Plan A and continue to invest in our existing estate in key areas of staff and equipment as well as exploring opportunities to grow the business. I have to say that I’m not shedding too many tears for the online sector which doesn’t contribute to the infrastructure of UK plc in particular to the beleaguered high street.

Game Nation can look to the future and continue to build a better business that keeps paying tax revenues, that invests in the high street, creates jobs and provides career opportunities in what is a fun industry.

I think there’s an opportunity to take stock of where we are as an industry and how we can become more resilient. It is important to ask why AGCs have so few allies compared to say Bingo.

I totally understand why bingo sits where it does in terms of hearts and minds but AGCs are in the community too with over 70 percent of our customers being regulars who use our venues to meet friends and socialise.

There’s a small but very vocal minority who have been listening to a false narrative and are truly ignorant when it comes to what we do. In a recent edition of Coinslot Rank Group CEO John O’Reilly talked about the snobbery that some politicians and policy makers have towards gambling and I think there’s some truth in that. The budget has shown that lobbying works and I hope that we can turn those skills and contacts into at last securing a triennial review!”