UK gambling tax campaign faces coherence questions as operators voice mixed messages on duty rises

An SBC News analysis argues that the UK gambling industry's campaign against higher taxes is undermined by differing messages from its own members. Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% in April, and attention has now moved to a possible doubling of Machine Gaming Duty from 20% to 40% in this month's Autumn Budget.

In an op-ed in The Sun, Entain CEO Stella David warned that further taxes on betting shops would cost jobs, training and career pathways. She noted that more than 2,500 Entain colleagues are under 25 and that the company hires around 650 young people each year. In her words, businesses cannot be asked to create opportunities for young people while it is made harder for them to stay open.

The analysis contrasts this with David's remarks on an earlier investor call. There she said the bottom quarter of operators hold about one percent of the market each and are not equipped to ride out the tax increases, which she said creates an opportunity for operators with scale to gain meaningful share.

A similar pattern is drawn for the Betting and Gaming Council. Its CEO, Grainne Hurst, has warned of thousands of people losing their livelihoods and of venues closing, with towns and cities in the North, Scotland and the Midlands bearing the heaviest cost. Two months earlier, Flutter's then CEO Peter Jackson said long-tail operators would be under pressure from regulation and tax, and that Flutter could use its scale as market leader to mitigate the changes and expected significant growth. Robeson Reeves, CEO of Bally's Intralot, said large operators should see consolidation and that companies with high enough margins should be able to carry on.

SBC News accepts that there is a difference between making money and saving jobs, and that it is not inherently contradictory for higher taxes to hurt small operators while helping large ones. Its point concerns presentation: warnings about widespread harm become harder to assess when some of those making them also see a stronger position emerging.

Richard Bradley, a lawyer at Poppleston Allen, told SBC News that the industry first needs clarity about the concern, the evidence behind it and the outcome policymakers want. The piece concludes that lobbying should be coherent and should serve the industry as a whole rather than a few operators that stand to gain from reduced competition.