Rank Group urges UK to implement land-based casino modernisation in early 2024

Rank’s David Williams says changes are needed to ensure the land-based casino sector’s survival.

UK.- In an op-ed article for the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC), Rank Group director of public affairs David Williams has urged the UK government to ensure the swift modernistion of land-based casinos. He called on the government to implement plans for the sector before a planned rise in the National Living Wage and the freezing casino duty bands, which the BGC estimates will cost the sector £5m a year.

Williams argued that the land-based casino sector will only be able to meet these costs if white paper modernisation proposals come into force first. These include proposals to update the rules on gaming machine proportions, to allow casinos to provide sports betting and to broaden electronic payment methods.

“The key mitigation that we have against these pressures is the delivery of the public policies in the white paper, some of which will really make a positive difference,” he said.

“At the top of the tree is the long-overdue change to gaming machine allocations. Casinos will also be able to offer sports betting, whilst electronic payment methods (rather than the current over-reliance on cash in our clubs) will help to give customers a more contemporary casino experience and one which is the norm almost everywhere else in the world.

“These improvements cannot come a moment too soon and it is precisely why the industry is urging the government to keep its foot to the floor in delivering their response to the land-based consultation, laying the necessary statutory instruments and getting the legislation delivered in the first half of 2024. It all takes time, and whilst timing is everything, we are not blessed with time on our side.”

He added: “We are playing catch-up with casinos elsewhere in the world, and much of the wider gambling ecosystem here in the UK. Only when the legislation is delivered can we set about making our casinos more modern and appealing.

“With timing comes sequencing. We simply cannot withstand the cost increases that are all but certain without knowing when the promised modernisations are going to land. In short, we need the modernisations which will help to drive revenue which will help us to absorb the costs. That’s the only sequence of events that works.

“As we reflect on a busy 2023, we lean into the first half of 2024 knowing that it’s likely to be even busier. By the summer, providing the government delivers the casino-modernising policies that were so long in the making, it will have been worth the wait.”

In his Autumn Statement last week, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced that the government would consult on plans to introduce a single unified remote gambling tax to replace the three current taxes of remote gaming duty, general betting duty and pool betting duty. However, the BGC described the plan as a “Trojan horse” to raise taxes on the gambling sector.

It says the move would have a negative impact on sports, especially horse racing, by causing lower margins and thus fewer offers and less funding through sponsorship.