UK gambling firms make extra £1bn from punters amid calls for tax rises
The UK gambling sector made an extra £1bn from punters in the year to March, according to new data expected to buoy calls for the chancellor to raise betting taxes in Wednesday’s budget.Betting companies made £12.6bn from services excluding lotteries in the latest 12-month reporting period, the Gambling Commission revealed on Tuesday, a 9.3% rise on the £11.5bn the industry made during the previous year.
The numbers were inflated by an almost 15% increase in gross gambling yield from online casino players, which rose to £5bn from £4.4bn during the previous period, and is now 55% higher than at the start of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.Online casino games have been criticised for being one of the most addictive forms of gambling available in the UK, leading to calls for a rise in online gaming duty by campaigners including the former prime minister Gordon Brown.Iain Duncan Smith, chair of a cross-parliamentary group examining gambling harm, said gambling companies were making “vast and growing profits”.“Uniquely, gambling companies make their profits through highly addictive products, often from our most deprived communities,” he said.
“It is abundantly clear that more addictive forms of gambling like online casinos and machines in adult gaming centres should be taxed at a higher level to pay for the many social ills that they cause.”Meg Hillier, the chair of parliament’s Treasury committee, which has been examining gambling taxes, said: “We believe that addictive online betting should face higher taxes than forms of gambling with cultural benefits, such as horse racing and bingo halls.“It’s important that the government does not cave in to … industry scaremongering [about higher gambling taxes causing job losses].Unfortunately, the fact that we are told the existence of gambling firms is on a financial knife-edge, while they simultaneously plough billions into advertising, does not come as a surprise.”The gambling industry has been lobbying the Treasury in an apparent effort to persuade Rachael Reeves to shy away from announcing large rises in a range of betting duties during her set-piece speech to the Commons on Wednesday.
The industry has the backing of some powerful supporters, with the Sun running a campaign called Save Our Bets.Last week, the tabloid reported that Joanne Whittaker, the chief executive of the bookmaking chain Betfred, had argued that even a modest increase to machine games duty – levied on machines located in premises that give cash prizes such as slot and quiz machines – would have a “devastating impact” and significantly cut the industry’s tax contribution, rather than contribute more revenue to the Treasury.Betfred has said it would close all 1,287 of its high street betting shops if Reeves raised taxes on the gambling industry.Evoke, the company behind William Hill, also said last month it was considering closing up to 200 betting shops if the chancellor raised taxes on the sector.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionElsewhere in the data, adult gaming centres (AGCs) reported that their winnings rose by 10% during the 12 months to March, with the industry making £682.
9m from its customers, up from £623.3m.AGCs have attracted the attention of some anti-gambling campaign groups because they appear to target poorer areas of the country and have been criticised for failing to help problem gamblers self-exclude.The number of AGCs fell slightly during the year from 1,451 to 1,415, while the total number of premises – which include betting shops, bingo halls and casinos – edged down from 8,328 to 8,234.The Betting and Gaming Council warned that the regulator’s latest figures masked “a mixed picture” in the sector, where high street operations such as betting shops had reported more than 30 closures during the current quarter.
A spokesperson for the industry body said: “These statistics also do not capture recent regulatory changes, which will have a major impact on growth and jobs, including a new £100m levy to fund research, prevention and treatment to tackle problem gambling and gambling related harm, and new financial vulnerability checks introduced in February,“BGC members generate £6,8bn for the economy, contribute over £4bn in tax and support 109,000 jobs, while sustaining local economies and sports,Ministers should take care in the budget not to impose measures that weaken the regulated sector and strengthen the unsafe, unregulated gambling black market, which pays no tax and offers none of the protections that exist in the regulated sector,”
Hereditary peers aren’t out of touch with the realities of the job market | Letter
You claim that “out-of-touch” hereditary peers in the House of Lords are blocking Angela Rayner’s controversial employment bill, which is spreading fear and anxiety throughout British business and choking the job prospects of young people in particular (‘Out of touch’ hereditary peers criticised for voting against workers’ rights, 18 November).Yet who really is out of touch with the realities of the job market? Cabinet members – none of whom has had a serious job in business? Or those you deride, many of whom have vast experience in setting up and running businesses, large and small. Unemployment has hit 5%, 1.7 million people are now on unemployment benefits, and the government’s own analysis has shown this bill will cost businesses £5,000m a year.The Lords’ stand is backed by the Federation of Small Businesses, the CBI, the Institute of Directors, Make UK, Care England and many more, including that old Guardian pin-up, Sir Tony Blair
Reeves freezes fuel duty for now as she confirms 3p-a-mile electric vehicle charge
Fuel duty will be frozen again, but only for five months until September 2026, the chancellor has announced, as she confirmed a new 3p-a-mile charge for electric cars from 2028.Rachel Reeves will freeze fuel duty in April at 52.95p a litre for petrol and diesel – a 16th successive year without a rise – but the so-called “temporary” 5p cut introduced by Rishi Sunak will be reversed in stages from September.Raising fuel duty has become politically contentious since the first freeze announced by the coalition government in 2010, but the eventual rise will help maintain a differential in running costs to encourage the transition to electric cars when the new mileage-based levy on EVs takes effect from 2028-29. Fuel duty in effect costs about 6p a mile on average for cars
Three more ex-pupils at school with Nigel Farage reject ‘banter’ claims
Three more school contemporaries who claim to have witnessed Nigel Farage’s alleged teenage racism have rejected the Reform UK leader’s suggestion that it was “banter”, describing it as targeted, persistent and nasty.One former pupil, Stefan Benarroch, claimed that people emerging from a Jewish assembly at Dulwich college had been in the sights of Farage and others for taunts while a second, Cyrus Oshidar, described as “rubbish” the claim that the Reform leader did not act with intent to hurt.“Being called a Paki isn’t hurtful?” Oshidar asked. A third, Rickard Berg, told the Guardian: “He’s now in a position where he shouldn’t be denying this. He’s straight up lying
UK politics: No 10 says no final decisions after leak reveals jury trials might be scrapped except for alleged rapists and killers – as it happened
David Lammy, the justice secretary, has written to officials and other ministers suggesting only rape, murder and manslaughter cases might be heard by juries under plans to overhaul the courts system.According to a report in the Times, in the document Lammy said there was “no right” to a jury trial in the UK and that drastic action is needed to reduce crown court backlogs.Downing Street insisted that no final decision has been taken, but did not deny that Lammy, deputy PM as well as justice secretary, is considering getting rid of juries for most trials.According to the Times, Lammy proposed that ony only rape, murder, manslaughter and “public interest” cases would be heard by juries. It says this could result in 75% of cases being heard by a judge alone
‘Where’s Nige?’ Reform leader skips Commons statement on Ukraine, leaving Tice to face pile-on | John Crace
Just occasionally the House of Commons is more remarkable for who isn’t in the chamber than for who is. So it was striking that Nigel Farage was absent for Keir Starmer’s statement on the G20 summit and the Ukraine peace process.You might have thought the man who has spent the last six months telling anyone who will listen that he will be the next prime minister might take some interest in geopolitics and Britain’s global standing. Apparently not. Only Richard Tice from Reform stayed for the session
‘I didn’t start it’: Starmer apologises for ‘six seven’ uproar during school visit
It has become the bane of many parents’ and teachers’ existence: children bleating out “six seven” for apparently no reason.So parents of pupils at Welland Academy in Peterborough will be unimpressed to discover that none other than the prime minister was encouraging their youngsters in the viral phenomenon.In a clip posted to Keir Starmer’s Instagram account, the prime minister can be seen reading with a young girl who points out she is on “page six-seven”, prompting him to start the dance move – a juggling like motion – that accompanies the infuriating craze.Before long, other members of the class are joining in and laughing hysterically.“That was a bit wild,” Starmer says as he exits the classroom, before he is swiftly reprimanded by the school’s headteacher, Jo Anderson
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