The owners of Britain’s biggest bookies including Ladbrokes, Coral, William Hill and Paddy Power today warned increased gaming duties announced in the Budget will cost them more than £700 million in total.
Three gambling giants Entain, Evoke and Flutter, said they were “deeply disappointed” by the Chancellor’s announcement and said they would encourage black market operators who “don't pay tax and don't invest in safer gambling.”
Rachel Reeves revealed in her speech yesterday that the remote gaming duty (RGD), levied on online casinos will rise from 21% to 40% next April while the general betting duty will rise from 15% to 25% for sporting bets -with the exception of horse racing - placed online from April 2027. There will be no change for bets placed in high street bookmakers.
The OBR said it expected the changes to raise an extra £1.1 billion a year for the Treasury by 2029-30
Flutter, which owns major brands including Paddy Power, Betfair, and Sky Betting & Gaming said the gross impact on earnings would be $320 million (£242 million) next year rising to $540 million (£408 million) in 2027.
After mitigation through measures such as “reduced operational, promotional and marketing spend” the net impact will be $235 million (£178 million) and $339 million (£256 million) respectively.
Kevin Harrington, Flutters boss in UK and Ireland, said: "Today's tax increases are a very disappointing outcome and will have a significant adverse impact on our industry.
“The Chancellor rightly wants to address harm, but these changes will hand a big win to illegal, unlicensed gambling operators who will become more competitive overnight.
These black market operators don't pay tax and don't invest in safer gambling. At 40 percent, the UK's remote gaming duty is now above countries such as the Netherlands, where a recent tax increase saw a rise in illegal gambling and a fall in Government receipts."
Entain, which owns Ladbrokes and Coral, said the duty hikes would cost around £200 million before mitigation.
Entain said it expects to mitigate approximately 25% of this impact “through actions including reducing marketing and promotions” reducing the net hit to earnings to around £100 million in 2026 and £150 million from 2027.
CEO Stella David, said: "We are deeply disappointed by today's decision to punitively increase UK gambling taxes, putting at risk an industry which already contributes £7 billion annually to the UK economy and supports over 100,000 jobs across the country.
“Disproportionately increasing gambling taxes will not only have a detrimental impact on our industry but also heightens the risk for customers. As seen in other countries, punitive tax increases often lead to lower tax revenues overall, whilst also driving players to illegal, unregulated operators with no player protections. The Government must now urgently tackle the black market and the consequences of today's decision.”
A third giant, Evoke, owner of brands including William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, said the changes would increase duty costs by between £125 million and £135 million a year from April 2027.
It hopes to offset about half the impact through “supplier savings, reduced marketing, retail store closures, operating cost savings, and potential changes to the customer proposition.”
Per Widerström, CEO of evoke, said "The decision today by the UK government to substantially raise taxes is highly damaging for the economy and consumers.
“As an industry, we have consistently warned of the significant impact on jobs, investment in the UK, and player protection that these changes would have, yet sadly the Government has chosen not to listen. These proposals are ill-thought-through, counterproductive, and highly damaging. It is clear these changes will significantly harm businesses, employees, and customers.
“We will begin immediately on executing our mitigation plans, which involve a significant reduction in investment into the UK, and, very regrettably, the likely need for thousands of jobs to be cut up and down the country.
“As a result of the actions now required, these tax changes will reduce the overall level of tax the regulated industry pays in the UK, and more importantly it will have a significant negative impact on player protection as these changes will incentivise activity moving to the illegal and dangerous black-market."
