How will the UK gambling sector be hit by the Budget?

There are concerns for the UK gambling sector in the lead-up to the Autumn Budget. What could be on the cards?

Hand betting gambling chips
(Image credit: Simon Webb and Duncan Nicholls)

The UK gambling sector has become the latest victim of “pre-Budget anxiety”, says Tom Saunders in The Times. The news of a potential £3 billion tax raid on the sector has wiped billions off the value of its biggest players. Entain, which owns Ladbrokes and Coral, and Evoke, which runs William Hill, both saw their stock drop 16% on Monday. Flutter Entertainment, which owns Paddy Power and Betfair, and Mecca Bingo-parent Rank Group retreated by 8%. More than £3.5 billion was erased from the sector’s collective market value. 

The Treasury is looking at two separate proposals, one from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) to increase online gaming taxes by £900 million, and another from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which would increase a range of duties by £3 billion, says Rob Davies in The Guardian. The SMF advocates doubling the tax on online gambling companies from 21% to 42%, while the IPPR thinks the Chancellor should double taxes, such as the 15% general betting duty levied on high-street bookmakers’ profits. Analysts think that while the government is unlikely to opt for the higher range of duty, the sector is “facing tougher regulation and taxes”.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

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