BGC comes out fighting against “catastrophic” UK Remote Betting and Gaming Duty proposal
Betting and Gaming Council CEO Grainne Hurst says the measure would be “utterly self-defeating”.
UK.- The gambling industry lobby group, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), has been quick to respond after the UK tax authority, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), initiated a consultation on a proposed new tax framework for remote gambling.
The proposal would integrate three separate tax categories – Remote Gaming Duty, General Betting Duty, and Pool Betting Duty – into a new single category termed Remote Betting and Gaming Duty (RBGD). The government says the aim is to simplify the tax system for both the HMRC and stakeholders and to acknowledge the growing prominence of online gambling.
There’s no mention in the consultation of what the new unified tax rate would be, but the BGC is preempting the possibility that it would be the same level as Remote Gaming Duty, potentially representing a higher cost for operators that currently pay General Betting Duty.
In a statement posted on X, Grainne Hurst, CEO of the BGC, said: “Raising taxes further now on regulated betting and gaming through a new single tax be utterly self-defeating for the government while making a mockery of their growth strategy.
“Any potential further increase in taxes on our members, so soon after a whitepaper which cost the sector over a billion pounds in lost revenue, will not raise more money for the Treasury. If General Betting Duty is raised to the same level as Remote Gaming Duty under one new tax. It would be catastrophic for Racing’s fragile finances.
“It will also likely force businesses to push investment and jobs overseas, while making their products more expensive for UK customers, driving them to the growing unsafe gambling black market online, which doesn’t pay a penny in tax and doesn’t have any of the safer gambling protections available in the regulated sector.”
She added: “Government must listen to business and sport and not drive growth, investment and jobs out of one of the UK’s few global business success stories.”
The current Remote Gaming Duty, which covers online slots, poker, bingo and similar, is levied at 21 per cent of gross profits based on a place of consumption (POC) model. General Betting Duty varies depending on vertical: fixed-odds betting is taxed at 15 per cent, sports spread betting at 10 per cent, and financial spread betting at 3 per cent. Pool Betting Duty is charged at 15 per cent on gross profits, applicable to sports pools only (excluding horse and greyhound racing).
The government says the aim of the proposed change is to simplify the tax system for both the HMRC and stakeholders and to acknowledge the growing prominence of online gambling, which now generates £6.9bn in annual gross gambling yield (GGY).
The HMRC said: “The government believes now is the right time to explore further reforms, creating a simpler and more coherent tax system that aligns with the industry’s evolution.”
The consultation period will span 12 weeks, concluding at midnight on July 21. Stakeholders can provide feedback through an online submission form.
There were calls last year for UK to increase gambling taxes. However, chancellor Rachel Reeves rejected this as a possibility for the Autumn 2024 Budget. Instead, Reeves said the HMRC would review the remote gambling tax framework by 2026.
