The Liberal Democrats have called on the UK government to increase remote gaming duty from 21% to 42% ahead of the Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget in November.
The backing to the proposal was cemented at the Liberal Democrat party conference over the weekend, with the party committing to treating gambling-related harm as a “public health issue”.
The Liberal Democrats are the third-largest party in parliament with 72 seats, behind the Tories with 121 and Labour’s 412.
Among the headline proposals related to gambling adopted by the party, upping of online casino tax to 42% received considerable backing.
There has been growing clamour among gambling reformists to increase the rate, with research from think tank Social Market Foundation calling for a hike.
The government recently concluded its consultation into the possibility of unifying the three different tax rates in the UK into one, which could see horseracing and sports betting’s 15% rate lifted to 21%.
Among other policies the Liberal Democrats will push the government for include the creation of an industry ombudsman, enforcing affordability checks and the implementation of a series of advertising restrictions.
Those include “ending inducements, direct marketing and gambling marketing and sponsorship at sports events; and by ending pre–watershed gambling advertising”.
Regulating loot boxes, funding greater research for gambling-related harm’s impact on ethnic minorities and delivering “population–wide public health policies” on gambling were also laid out by the party.
The significant Labour majority in the House of Commons, plus the fact a general election could be as far away as 2029, might see the Liberal Democrats’ pressure flounder.
Ahead of Reeves’ Autumn Budget, Labour deputy leadership candidate Lucy Powell has backed increasing gambling taxes to cover the cost of lifting the two-child benefit cap.
Writing in The Mirror, Powell said the proposals from former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown should get “careful consideration”.
Powell is facing off against Bridget Phillipson to succeed Angela Rayner as Labour’s deputy leader.
Max Wilkinson, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham, said: “These reforms would not only save lives, they’d raise hundreds of millions of pounds to help fund NHS treatment for gambling addiction and prevent future harm.
“The gambling industry has had a free pass for too long. Liberal Democrats will hold them to account and put people before profits, so that gambling in the UK can be safe, fair and free from harm.”
The post Liberal Democrats ask UK government to raise remote gaming duty to 42% first appeared on EGR Intel.
Centrist party adopts a wide breadth of gambling policies at conference, including backing marketing restrictions and affordability checks
The post Liberal Democrats ask UK government to raise remote gaming duty to 42% first appeared on EGR Intel.