Strong rise in UK gambling tax collections casts doubt on industry arguments
British Remote Gaming Duty was up 22 per cent year-on-year for the first three months after the rate hike.
Key takeaways:
- HMRC’s first tax figures since the April 2026 Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) increase show total betting and gaming duty receipts of £1.93bn between April and July, up 19 per cent year-on-year. RGD accounted for around half of all receipts.
- RGD receipts reached an estimated £376m between April and June, up 22 per cent (£67m) on the same period in 2025.
- It’s been suggested that the figures could weaken one of the gambling industry’s main arguments against higher taxes, namely that tax hikes drive players to the black market and reduce revenues.
UK.- HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has released the first figures on UK gambling tax collections following the rise in Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) in April. The provisional HMRC figures for April to June show £1.93bn in total betting and gaming duty receipts between April and July 2026, an increase of 19 per cent year-on-year.
RGD represented half of the total, while General Betting Duty (GBD), which is set to rise to 25 per cent for online betting from April 2027, accounted for a further 16.6 per cent. For April to June, RGD is estimated to have reached £376m. That’s 22 per cent more (£67m) than in the same period of 2025.
Total UK betting and gaming receipts between April and June stood at £985m, only 0.3 per cent higher year-on-year. In other categories, GBD receipts fell 14 per cent to £161m, while Lottery Duty receipts slipped 15 per cent to £225m and Machine Games Duty increased 5 per cent to £162m and Gaming Duty rose 2 per cent to £58m.
The RGD rate was hiked from 21 per cent to 40 per cent from April. It’s been suggested that the first preliminary figures present a challenge to one of the industry’s central arguments against higher gambling taxes as it lobbies against a proposal to double Machine Games Duty (MGD) in this year’s Autumn Budget. The industry had suggested that a higher tax rate could actually reduce tax collection by pushing more players to the black market.
That’s what happened in the Netherlands when gambling tax was raised last year. However, it seems the same effect hasn’t appeared in the UK, at least for now. Critics of the sector could take that up as more evidence to suggest the industry is over-egging the potential impact of any rise in MGD.
Operators continue to lobby against proposals for a rise in MGD. The Betting and Gaming Council has launched a campaign under the slogan Back Our Betting Shops in a bid to promote the sector’s contributions to local communities. Rank Group, which owns Grosvenor and Mecca, has warned that a rise in MGD could lead it to close a third of its venues, while Greg Knight, the founder of JenningsBet told the Sunday Times it might shut over half of its 200 betting shops.
Fred Done, the founder of BetFred, has gone further, claiming that a MGD rise could wipe out retail betting shops completely, although Paddy Power co-founder Stewart Kenny accused him of “familiar scaremongering”.
Recent Gambling Commission figures showed £17.5bn in gross gambling yield during the 2025-26 financial year, up 4.4 per cent. Remote casino, betting and bingo generated £8.3bn, compared with £4.9bn from land-based sectors. Chancellor John Healey will unveil the Autumn Budget on October 28.
FAQs
How much gambling tax did the UK collect for the first quarter of the 2026-2027 tax year?
HMRC’s provisional figures show £1.93bn in betting and gaming duty receipts between April and July 2026, representing a 19 per cent increase compared with the previous year.
Did the increase in Remote Gaming Duty reduce tax revenues?
No. Early figures suggest the opposite, with RGD receipts rising 22 per cent year-on-year to £376m between April and June.
