Betty CEO Justin Park has said that the significant tax hikes in the UK market will create a “unique opening” for the operator after it submitted its licence application with the Gambling Commission.
As part of the Autumn Budget announcement in November, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that remote gaming duty (RGD) would rise from 21% to 40% for UK operators, effective from April 2026.
General betting duty, which covers sports betting, will also rise from 15% to 25%, with self-service betting terminals, spread betting, pools betting and horseracing exempt.
Last July, Park remarked that expansion into the UK was an emerging priority for the Ontario-facing operator.
Writing on LinkedIn about the progress of the UK launch, Park confirmed that the operator has secured a founding CEO for the BettyUK brand.
Betty’s founding engineer Zhasima Draganova will serve as BettyUK’s founding chief technology officer, with the exec having “assembled an elite technical team dedicated exclusively to the UK market”.
The company has also submitted its license application to the Gambling Commission today, 7 January.
Park also noted that Betty has also employed a UX researcher to interview UK players to build a local feedback loop, in addition to pulling the trigger on a test media spend to map UK traffic behaviours.
He suggested that the inflated tax rate could work to the operator’s advantage, citing challenger brand Midnite as an example.
Park wrote: “I’ve been thinking a lot about the new 40% gaming tax in the UK. While it’s a massive shift, it actually creates a unique opening for the next generation of operators.
“We’ve already seen how a changing regulatory landscape allowed nimble teams – like Midnite – to start taking material market share.
“Instead of spending years refactoring legacy code just to stay compliant, they’ve managed to focus on delighting players through product innovation.
“This tax hike will only accelerate this trend. While incumbents are now forced to play defense across both their tech stacks and cost structures, BettyUK is starting with a clean slate.
“If BettyUK can crack the code, they really have a shot at taking over the market as everyone else retreats.”
Betty Canada reported revenue of C$58.9m for the third quarter of 2025, representing a 39% quarter on quarter increase for the operator.
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Justin Park says the new 40% remote gaming duty rate for operators “will only accelerate trend” of smaller brands taking material market share as operator prepares for expansion
The post Betty to expand into UK as licence application submitted first appeared on EGR Intel.