Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) chair Michael Dugher has urged the UK government not to overtax the gambling industry, citing a weakening product offer and black market leakage as consequences.
Speaking at G2E on Monday 7 October, the former Labour MP issued a stark warning to the Treasury and Chancellor Rachel Reeves over potential tax hikes.
Reeves is due to deliver her Autumn Budget on 26 November, and has signalled tax increases are likely, suggesting operators should “pay their fair share” in an interview ahead of the Labour conference last month.
The Treasury has already completed its consultation into merging pool and general betting duty and remote gaming duty into one levy.
Pressure from more than 100 Labour backbenchers, citing proposals from think tanks backing a 50% remote gaming duty, has come in recent weeks.
Dugher said that should tax increase come, they need to be done so at a moderate level, or operators will be forced to significantly adjust product offerings.
The trade body chair conceded that he expected an increase in the tax rates, although did not state where he thought Reeves would land.
“If you overtax the products, you make the product in the regulated industry expensive,” Dugher told the G2E audience.
“So, all of a sudden, the unregulated guys, they can do better offers, the odds are better, there’s more free bets and the customer experience is less intrusive.
“If you’re a customer, you’re not running the government or running regulators, so you don’t really care about this. It’s not an argument against regulating but it is an argument about getting regulation right, and it’s not an argument about not taxing the industry.
“The industry in the UK pays £4bn in tax. I suspect we’re going to pay a little bit more than that in a couple of months’ time. But if you overtax, you make it more expensive, and the product becomes less attractive. You’ve got to stop doing the things that cause this in the first place.”
Dugher added that black market operators being able to allow punters to use credit cards and softer KYC processes were also driving customers to the unlicensed arena.
He also said he believes any increases would not come from a place of anti-gambling sentiment from within the Labour government.
Dugher concluded: “The Treasury in the UK has got a fiscal challenge, and that’s the thing that’s driving it. There’s political noise. There are always a noisy minority of people who don’t like gambling.
“To some extent, this is a really complicated issue. But it’s also really simple when you get down to it, which is, don’t regulate the hell out of it and don’t tax the hell out of it. Otherwise, you will knock it over.”
The post BGC chair: Overtaxing operators will make products “less attractive” first appeared on EGR Intel.
Michael Dugher states that balance is key ahead of the Autumn Budget, as he argues the government can’t “tax the hell” out of gambling
The post BGC chair: Overtaxing operators will make products “less attractive” first appeared on EGR Intel.