The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the UK’s only wagering and gaming industry body, has called on the Chancellor to reconsider indirect tax on land-based casinos, the Autumn Statement confirmed.

UK casino Gaming Duty Bands frozen again:

According to measures revealed by the Treasury, Gaming Duty Bands imposed on the UK casinos have been “frozen“ once again and won’t grow with inflation, which successfully led to a £5 million tax increase per year for land-based casinos that are members of the BGC. Additionally, there were hopes that the freeze, firstly revealed in March of this year, would be lifted, giving a substantial encouragement to a section which has troubles with energy expenses and salary increases alongside high inflation.

At the moment, casinos, an essential pillar of the hospitality and tourism section, hire over 10,000 individuals who serve more than 16 million visiting clients each year. They also give £300 million in taxes and a calculated £800 million per year in Gross Value officially added to the economy.

However, some of them have had trouble recovering from the current difficult economic situation, which has led to job losses and closings, and the global COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, there were 160 casinos were in the Great Britain during 2005, and 117 during this ongoing year. On a related note, 4 casinos have shut down their doors during recent months, involving Crockfords in Mayfair owned by Genting, the country’s oldest casino.

Furthermore, during 2019, casinos hired 13,600 individuals, and now that number has fell to below 10,200, which represents a decrease of 25%. In this regard, commenting on the Gaming Duty Bands freeze, Michael Dugher, CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council, said according to an offical press release: “Freezing Gaming Duty Bands is a stealth tax which has the potential to slow recovery and weaken future growth. Removing it would have provided a welcome boost for the land-based casino sector at a crucial time. Instead, the decision to maintain the status quo represents a missed opportunity for companies ready and able to generate jobs and investment across the country. Right now casinos, which play such a vital role in the tourism and hospitality sector, are waiting for the modest but mission critical policy changes announced in the White Paper. It seems short sighted to maintain this stealth tax while failing to make changes that will allow casinos to hire and grow. The BGC urges a re-think so Gaming Duty Bands can be moved with inflation at the next opportunity.”

Consequences:

The aforementioned freeze on Gaming Duty Bands is projected to outlay casinos £25 million throughout the period of the coming 5 years. Relatedly, BGC members collectively provide £7.1 billion for the economy, collect £4.2 billion in tax, while backing up 110,000 jobs.

Furthermore, BGC collaborates closely with the regulator and Government to provide the White Paper, however, each change have to not risk luring clients into the unregulated, dangerous black gambling market, where wagering numbers have increased twofold during recent years and the sum being wagered is in billions.

Every month 22.5 million adults in the UK love to wager, it doesn’t matter in what form, be it purchasing the lottery ticket, playing bingo, paying a visit to the casino, horse racing, wagering on or playing online football among other sports.

Additionally, the BGC was boosted by the newest numbers from the NHS Health poll, which outlined that the rate of problem gambling is 0.4% of the adult population in the Great Britain.