Amusement arcades at Sussex's top seaside attractions could go bust within nine months.

Machines from the Laughing Policeman to the ever-popular 2p slots so synonymous with the seaside may be nothing more than a find memory from 2009.

The owner of Treasure Island arcade in Eastbourne and Family Leisure in Brighton has warned the two will close before the end of the year unless drastic changes are made to the law.

Jeffrey Sanders, who also owns an arcade on the Isle of Wight which has been shut down already, said takings have been slashed by up to 40 per cent since changes made to gambling laws in September.

Mr Sanders, whose company has invested more than £2 million in Eastbourne, said: "The restriction on what seaside arcades can provide is reducing income so drastically that in many cases it is impossible to trade.

"There's an awful lot of good in the new Bill but there are some unfortunate circumstances too."

Under the new rules arcades are not allowed £2 stake machines. Instead the maximum stake is now £1 - and each premises is permitted only four such machines, regardless of size.

Mr Sanders said: "If you are over 18, you can go to Iraq, get married, do what you want, but not spend more than £1 on machine in an arcade.

"Yet people can go to a bookies and spend a £100 stake on machines in there."

Mr Sanders said all he wanted was a level playing field. At the moment, he said, laws were pushing punters from soft gambling in arcades such as his, to harder environments such as a bookmakers.

He said: "Bookies profits are up 20 per cent since September, and yet ours are down 35 or 40 per cent. We've hit rock bottom.

"I need that income to pay for the upkeep of the pier. We have always relied on the machines to support everything else. You have Victorian structures and without the arcades they would be falling in the sea. The kiddies' machines won't pay for it.

"We're struggling and I'm not kidding.

"We're not asking for the £100 machines they have in bookies, we want what we had before September, just a £2 stake.

"The next review is in 2009 but we will be out of business by then."

More than 130 MPs, including Eastbourne's Nigel Waterson, have signed a motion urging the Government to take immediate action to rebalance the market by reviewing stake limits and increasing the number allowed.

Ron Cussons, the director of tourism for Eastbourne between 1986 and 2005, said: "This is another nail in the coffin for tourism in Eastbourne.

"We have seen a sharp decline in investment in our tourist attractions over the last few years in what Eastbourne has to offer our visitor and residents, which is worth millions to the town not least providing many jobs."

A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "Seaside arcades form an integral part of many families' trips to the seaside and we want to see that continue.

"Some sectors of the gaming machine industry regard increasing stakes and prize levels as the only way to address its problems. The industry cannot and should not always rely on the government to assist. Our principal objective when it comes to gambling policy is to protect the public and we make no apologies for that."

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