UK to raise gaming tax by 6 per cent from next year
Ministers move back FOBT maximum betting to October 2019
There is method in their madness, after all. Have someone else do your dirty work while looking like trying to balance the books. This appears to have been the message to pro-gambling MP Philip Davies, accused by Sports minister Tracey Crouch of going, “above her head to secure a delay to curbs on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), and defying her on a policy she had overseen.” This has prompted her to resign so perhaps there are decent people in the Tory party, after all.
The announcement by Philip Hammond, British Chancellor of the Exchequer in his budget speech, that a 6 per cent tax increase in gaming duty will be applicable to online casino games such as poker and blackjack, is intended to fund the crackdown on FOTBs. When the new tax regime comes into force, the tax will rise from 15% to 21%.
The Government intends to use the revenue from this tax rise to offset the cost of reducing the maximum stakes for FOTBs from £100 to just £2 from October 2019.
Ministers have criticised the machines as a “social blight” that prey on the most “vulnerable in society.” FOBTs are known as “crack cocaine gambling machines”.
Experts had predicted a tax hike to compensate for the cost of reducing the maximum stake. However, some experts say the 6 per cent rise is too steep. Some experts are hinting that gaming companies may not find the UK market profitable anymore.
