Written by Jon Bryan | Expected reading time 4 mins
Last Updated: May 14, 2025
Written by Jon Bryan
Writing for SlotsHawk, Jon Bryan looks at a recent government announcement and considers what it might mean for the future of gambling.
A CATASTROPHIC CONSULTATION?
It isn’t every day that the Betting and Gaming Council label a government consultation as being ‘utterly self-defeating’, ‘catastrophic’, and ‘flawed’, all in a relatively short statement. But that was the approach that BGC CEO Grainne Hurst took when the government said it was consulting on the Tax Treatment of Remote Gambling.
Announced at the end of last month, the consultation is about streamlining the different tax rates for UK-facing remote gambling, so it isn’t immediately obvious why this should generate such a lot of noise. However, as different types of online gambling are taxed at different rates, the clear expectation is that lower rates of taxation for one type of gambling will be increased so that they match the higher rate of tax for others. In short, gambling companies are going to have to pay more tax. Hence, the rather hostile reception that this has received throughout the gambling sector.
TREASURY VS DCMS
For the most part, changes to gambling in the UK come through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, so it is of note that this furore has come from a consultation document issued by the Treasury. Not many glowing words are used to describe the Treasury, which I suppose is understandable. Their job is to maximise income coming into the government, which underlines the concerns being expressed by several gambling companies, and their trade body, the BGC.
The consultation contains warm and uncontroversial phrases such as ‘aim to have a gambling industry that is sustainable, offers jobs and brings social value to the UK’, and ‘simplifying the tax system and reducing administrative burdens’, but those words won’t fool anyone. Nobody seriously thinks that the agenda is anything but increasing the amount of money being raked from the gambling industry into the treasury coffers. Everyone can see what lies ahead, for both gamblers and the gambling industry alike.
There might be some reading this who will consider it a non-issue. Gambling companies paying more money into the collective good through taxation is surely a good thing, isn’t it? At face value, you could think so. But think about it for a few more seconds. Where do you think that additional money will come from? It will mean less money paid out to punters and/or job losses for the industry. I don’t see either of those outcomes as something to be welcomed.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
One of the other possible consequences of this is a drift away from the UK for some gambling companies. The uncertainty surrounding Bet365 in Stoke shows that this is a possibility. Or perhaps gamblers will continue to move to the unregulated market, which is detailed in a number of reports, including one last autumn by Frontier Economics.
What is certain is that a decline in money for the gambling sector, with the sole beneficiary being the government, is something that no-one in the gambling sector will benefit from. Not companies, or their staff, or the gamblers they serve.
WHAT NEXT?
We are still in the consultation phase. Whatever is implemented will not come to pass for another two years. However, that will be two more years of change and possible turmoil in a sector that has known too much of that over the last few years.
At the start of 2025, Grainne Hurst said that she hoped to see ‘a period of stability’. That doesn’t seem likely if government announcements like this one continue throughout the year. There is a clear need to challenge what is being proposed, and I would urge everyone reading this to respond to the consultation.
It is possible to stop a ‘spiral of decline’ from happening, but the first step is to stand up for gambling, gamblers, and (on this issue) for the companies which provide services for all of us to have a punt.
Jon Bryan is a Gambling Writer and Poker Player. His pamphlet “Risking It All: The freedom to gamble” is available to purchase or free to download. Find more of Jon’s articles for SlotsHawk.
