Gibraltar gambling commissioner says UK gambling tax rise would cause “genuine pain”
Andrew Lyman has cast aside impartiality to weigh in on the gambling tax debate.
Gibraltar.- In an unusual example of a gambling regulator casting aside impartiality to join a political debate, the Gibraltar gambling commissioner has weighed in with an opinion on the likely gambling tax hike in Britain. Andrew Lyman, who is also a non-executive director of the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS), wrote on LinkedIn to criticise claims that the gambling industry can absorb any tax hike.
Several UK political figures, including the former prime minister Gordon Brown, have suggested that gambling companies can afford the tax hike being proposed by the think tanks Social Market Foundation (SMF) and Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). They propose a rise in Remote Gaming Duty from 21 to 50 per cent.
However, Lyman wrote: “Because my role is primarily a regulatory one, I have, until today, remained silent in the debate on the rates of UK betting and remote gaming duty. I think that the idea that the industry can absorb significant top line tax rises and not suffer wider structural impact and loss of bottom line profit is disingenuous.”
He claims that there is little room for a tax rise on the gambling sector without causing significant impact on its economic contribution. He suggests Remote Gaming Duty could be raised by “no more than 4-5 percentage points” and General Betting Duty even less in order to avoid a serious impact.
“Above that, the pips will be beyond squeaking and there will be genuine pain. Pain will mean not just reduced growth, but as cogent examples demonstrate, tax yield would reduce in the medium term,” he wrote.
“There is a tipping point and the nearer RGD gets to 30 per cent the more amplified the economic impact and the chances of policy failure and irrecoverable damage to the sector. Once the regulated sector is gone it’s gone!”
It’s widely expected that chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce a hike in UK gambling tax in her Autumn Budget presentation on November 26. The Treasury Committee has backed a tax hike, while many Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs are also in favour of the move. Reeves herself has said that she sees a case for raising taxes on gambling.
The Gambling Commission’s most recent data published this week shows that British online gross gambling yield (GGY) rose by 8 per cent in Q2 to £1.42bn. However, retail betting premises’ GGY decreased by 5 per cent to £508m.
