Gibraltar gambling commissioner Andrew Lyman has suggested the UK market could be “on the road to ruin” by following in the footsteps of certain European jurisdictions and hiking up taxes on operators.
Speaking on a panel at iGB Live on Thursday, 2 July, Lyman said politicians across Europe had upped gaming taxes after moving away from state monopoly models, and that the UK is heading the same way after increasing remote gaming duty (RGD) to 40% earlier this year.
Remote betting duty, excluding domestic horseracing, will jump from 15% to 25% next April, the government announced in the Autumn Budget last November.
Lyman said: “If you look at most of the European jurisdictions, they didn’t really want to lose their state monopolies. Then they were effectively forced to open the market to commercial regulation.
“Most of them, like the Netherlands and others, brought it in in a sensible way with a proportional regime.
“As soon as that market is licensed, the politicians want the wrong low-hanging fruit, and they want to tax them. European policy on gambling is not good.”
For example, the Netherlands increased tax on gross gambling revenue (GGR) in January 2025 from 30.5% to 34.2%. Then, in January 2026, the rate was lifted again, to 37.8%.
Elsewhere, Sweden went from 18% to 22% in 2024, while Bulgaria and Romania have increased their tax rates on GGR to 25% and 30%, respectively.
Research published by the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) and the Dutch government revealed the country has fallen short of tax revenue projections despite increasing gaming duties twice in the last 18 months.
“The UK’s policy on tax was good; it was hard regulation, but a relatively lower tax rate, and now they’ve gone and ruined that. The UK policy has made exactly the same mistakes,” Lyman added.
Earlier this week, on 28 June, think tank the Social Market Foundation proposed doubling machine games duty on Category B units found in casinos, betting shops, bingo halls and Adult Gaming Centres to 40%, in line with RGD.
Lyman argued such a move would be detrimental in the UK, only serving to inflate the black market.
He continued: “The taxation issue was dressed up as consumer protection, but it’s got nothing to do with consumer protection. The outcomes are more likely to drive a much larger black market.
“Not only have they [UK government] done that, but they’re likely to now do the same with machine gaming duty, which will wipe out adult gaming sectors and betting shops to the point where we will now have an illegal market on the retail side as well in the UK if those Social Market Foundation proposals are adopted by the UK government.
“I’m sorry to depress, but at the moment we’re on the road to ruin.”
Lyman also touched on Gibraltar recently issuing licences to prediction markets in the British Overseas Territory, with WagerWire and ADI Predictstreet having both secured permits.
Earlier this month, regulators from nine European countries including France, Germany and Italy banded together to take a hard line stance against prediction market platforms across the continent.
Lyman went on to insist regulators may have to be more flexible in order to accommodate consumer demand.
He added: “We recently granted a licence to a prediction markets platform on the basis that the users are very much crypto-native, interested in sports, and think of themselves more as traders than gamblers. They [prediction markets] are available because of the desire of the consumers.
“We need to be having conversations about how we regulate prediction markets, and how we establish standards around gambling and gambling-related products.”
Last month, the Gibraltar government announced it was recruiting a new gambling commissioner and executive director to take over from Lyman following the conclusion of his contract.
The position will be for a fixed term of two years, with the option to renew. The successful candidate will report into the justice, trade and industry minister Nigel Feetham.
The new gambling commissioner will be expected to shadow Lyman in the role for a “lengthy period” upon appointment.
The post Gibraltar regulator warns UK market is“on the road to ruin” first appeared on EGR Intel.
Andrew Lyman insists the country risks repeating mistakes made by governments across Europe by going after the “wrong low-hanging fruit” with tax hikes
The post Gibraltar regulator warns UK market is“on the road to ruin” first appeared on EGR Intel.