Daytime gambling adverts could be banned, as the government widens its review of fixed-odds betting terminals to include TV commercials.

Dubbed the “crack cocaine of gambling”, the fixed-odds terminals, which dominate high street bookies around the country, came under the spotlight last month after new research showed gambling has the ability to alter the brain permanently.

The betting machines, which took £1.7 billion from UK gamblers last year, have already been the subject of campaigning in Medway, with Labour recently calling for the maximum stake to be reduced from £100 to £2 a spin.

Bookies could be stung further by a clampdown on advertising.

Medway Labour leader Cllr Vince Maple said he was not “anti-gambling” but welcomed the news adverts could be restricted.

“I want to see the industry acting responsibly,” he said. “That’s about making sure that where they are advertising it’s done appropriately, and I would argue it’s not necessarily appropriate to advertise during the day when there are children watching TV.”

Bingo and sports gambling commercials are allowed to air before the 9pm watershed, but the rising popularity of gambling among youngsters has prompted ministers to reconsider the rules.

Last month Chatham MP Tracey Crouch said the government was keeping the issue of advertising under review.