Tax, tax and more tax | My week in iGaming #16
This week’s My Week looks on in disbelief (again) at the likelihood of punitive tax increases for the gambling industry. Additionally, cockfighting, the Premier League and Sir Philip Davies (again) get a look-in.
Tax, tax and more tax. Then tax it to death?
Picture the scene. Downing Street with Starmer, Reeves, Rayner, Lammy and a dozen spotty-faced Guardianista advisers.
‘What are we going to do about the economy?’
‘F***ed if I know.’
‘What’s the economy? Is that like home economics at school?’
Uncomfortable pause.
‘I’ve got an idea.’
They all look around.
‘Yeah, my idea is this. Well, firstly we have to admit we have no idea how to grow the economy. So what do we do?’
‘Borrow?’
‘Stop paying old age pensions? Turn Buckingham Palace into an Airbnb?’
‘No. Increase tax. But we’ll be clever. We won’t increase personal taxes, we’ll just hit businesses. But if we pick successful industries, hopefully no one will notice.’
‘Tell us more.’
And there and how is quite possibly how our government determined that the gambling industry was one they would ‘go after’ and tax them to within a couple of betting slips of death.
A day’s race meetings cancelled
So concerned with a potential tax rise for the racing industry, 4 meetings scheduled for 10 September were cancelled in protest – effectively a strike.
Why? The treasury is looking at increasing the tax on racing bookmakers from 15% to 21%.
That’s a 40% increase. How many businesses in how many industries could absorb this increase without some pain?
And painful it will be. Just how painful though?
Very painful
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) suggests around 2750 jobs would be in jeopardy in the first year with this tax increase. Additionally, they forecast a £330m hole in revenue over 5 years.
The Treasury rationale:
"We are consulting on bringing the treatment of online betting in line with other forms of online gambling to cut down bureaucracy. It is not about increasing or decreasing rates."
Yeah, right, the other one’s got bells on it.
A day without racing will cost the industry an estimated £200,000 in lost revenue. The ‘point’ though, is arguably far more important than the £200k. There are, after all, around 1400 meetings each year.
The BHA’s Chief Exec said:
"It's certainly not a decision we have taken lightly. The industry is united in saying that cost is a small price to pay for ensuring we send a clear and loud message to government."
But not that united though because they didn’t discuss it with the Betting & Gaming Council (BGA) which represents bookmakers and gaming companies.
"Racing's decision to reschedule fixtures was taken without consultation with betting operators, whose support for the funding of the sport is mission critical. We are concerned that futile political gestures will only antagonise the government and frustrate punters instead of delivering a solution."
Surely the BHA working in tandem with the BGA on this would be to the benefit of both.
In any event, the 4 meetings at Lingfield, Kempton Park, Uttoxeter and Carlisle were all rescheduled either side of 10 September.
Online gaming to be hit much harder
The government is considering the Institute for Public Policy Research’s (IPPR) proposals for increased taxation for the gambling sector. Part of that proposal is a tax increase on online casinos from 21% to 50% and an increase on slots and gaming machines from 20% to 50%.
Whaaaaaat!? In each case that’s an increase of about 150%.
Final words, for now, on tax
It’s difficult to think just where to start in considering these suggestions, proposals, whatever they are. The gambling industry is thriving – a positive shining light in the current gloom that is much of the British economy. So instead of looking to guide its growth – responsible gambling measures firmly in place – the government looks to hammer it, tax-wise. We don’t seem to like success stories in this country, do we?
It’s also not hard to see this whole thing backfiring horribly if it goes through – have a look at some further reading, below:
- Labour eyes gambling tax cash grab
- Betting & Gaming Council warning over tax increase
- Naive or cynical? The IPPR's proposed tax increases
- UK gov might not be able to resist taking a bite out of £1.49bn GGY
Online in rude health
It’s not really a surprise, and in fact it’s a perverse kind of back-handed compliment that the government is preparing a tax raid of monumental proportions on the gambling industry.
At a time when there’s little apparent economic growth apart from the maniacs on motorised scooters delivering food to lazy bastards and the dinghy arrivals industries, it’s a bit of a chest-beater to see industry growth such as this:
- Gross gambling yield (GGY) rose 2% during Q1 of the 2025/26 financial year.
- Active accounts went up to 12.7m - a rise of around 10%.
- 6% increase in total bets.
- Online slots revenue up 14%.
- Online spins up 8%.
No wonder Rachel from Accounts and our joyless government are keen.
The government might not be salivating quite so much if they also considered the brick-and-mortar part of the industry which sees year-on-year decline in activity and spending.
It’s back!
The English Premier League season kicked off again a few weeks ago, and it’s already taking a familiar-ish shape, with Liverpool topping the League and Erling 'Alien' Haaland leading the goal scoring charts.
Can we expect or hope for a dark horse to come from somewhere – like Leicester in 2016 or Palace in the FA Cup last season? It’s probably more interesting to look at the other end of the table and wonder or speculate about what might happen. With such a divide between Premier League and Championship I doubt you’d get much in the way of favourable odds on, if like last season, all 3 promoted clubs go down.
‘Dark horses’ for relegation? (ie excluding the 3 that came up) would be West Ham, Wolves and unfortunately my team Brentford. Losing Thomas Frank to Tottenham was the major blow but also losing two 20-ish-goals-a-season forwards was doubly painful with only raw-ish replacements set to fill the void.
It’ll be more interesting once we hit late Autumn and the first couple of international breaks are out the way.
A bit of cock…
Here at Slot Gods we like to keep an eye on what’s going on around, internationally, in the world of gambling. We see similar trends right across the world in terms of illegal gambling and have reported on Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium as well as the UK. Our international sister site recently reported on social media influencers being arrested in Brazil for promoting illegal gambling.
The Philippines came onto my radar the other day when I read an article about illegal gambling there. There’s a bit of a twist though with one of the big attractions (and drivers) in illegal gambling in the Philippines being cockfighting, known locally as e-sabong.
Cockfighting is still (just) legal in the Philippines, however it’s the illegal fights – known as tupada or tigbakay – and illegal gambling sector where both money and concern is in greatest abundance. This section of the industry has been driven so far underground that the authorities and police have little chance of uncovering the main players or putting a stop to it.
However change is afoot. The Philippines government recently voted, resoundingly at 162-2, to prohibit cockfighting for online gambling.
Sir Philip Davies (again)
You may remember Phil from a previous My Week. He’s the maverick ex-MP who supports gambling. Well he’s landed on his feet again after being appointed chair of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB). He took up his new position on 1 September.
On his appointment the often colourful Davies said:
“I would like to thank the GBGB board for putting their faith in me. I look forward to working with tracks, owners, trainers and our wider stakeholders … for many years to come.”
With the number of charisma-less current and former MPs in positions of, and gaining, influence it’s nice to have someone a bit more real and with genuine personality and enthusiasm taking a leading role.