Andy Burnham Unlikely to Change Gambling Industry Picture as UK PM

With Andy Burnham taking over as Prime Minister in the UK, attention within the gambling industry turns towards whether this will lead to any noticeable regulatory shifts.

Burnham, who replaced Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister on Monday, has already pleased the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) by retaining Lisa Nandy as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and replacing Rachel Reeves as Chancellor with former Defence Secretary John Healey.

The BGC has said it will work with Nandy to “restore a stable, internationally competitive tax and regulatory environment” and mentioned Healey’s support of the industry’s Grand National Charity Bet initiative. However, whether this improves the future regulatory picture for the industry is unclear.

Adult gaming centres in trouble

Burnham has already made a number of policy pledges, including cutting VAT from energy bills, capping bus fare at £2, and announcing £340 million funding to go towards acquiring suitable homes.

Burnham is not thought to have any political or sentimental ties with the gambling industry, and it is likely gambling is one area that could be used to fund his plans.

On Thursday, Burnham hinted adult gaming centres and other gambling venues are likely to be in the firing line, tying them in with vape shops. Burnham told UK media:

“Adult gaming centres on high streets can often bring real harm to communities. People will see the vape shops that don’t add much to community life and cause other issues too.”

A decade of turbulence

Politically, the UK has been through a decade of leadership turbulence. The country is now welcoming its sixth Prime Minister following the resignation from the position of Prime Minister by David Cameron after the Brexit referendum in June 2016. Burnham is also the second leader of the current Labour regime, which took over from the Conservative Party following the 2024 General Election.

However, regardless of which party or leader of said party has been in power, the general trend in recent years has been to move towards tighter regulation. In 2014, the point of consumption tax was introduced, preventing operators from paying low tax rates in jurisdictions such as Gibraltar and the Isle of Man while taking business from mainland UK.

This was followed by the slashing of maximum stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals in 2019, from £100 to £2, and a ban on betting with credit cards was introduced the following year.

Three years later, the government produced the Gambling White Paper, which introduced more than 60 proposals to reform the UK’s gambling laws.

A macroeconomic study from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research found measures from the government’s 2023 Gambling White Paper will have a net negative impact of approximately £189 million per year on the wider UK economy, in part driven by greater numbers betting on unlicensed websites.

More tax rises coming

Following Labour’s return to power in 2024, its most significant impact on the gambling industry has been an increase in taxation announced by then Chancellor Reeves in the Budget last November.

From the start of April, remote gaming duty, paid on online casino bets, was raised from 21% of gross gambling yield (GGY) to 40%.

There will also be an increase in general betting duty, paid on online sports bets, which will go up from 15% of GGY to 25% in April 2027; bets on horseracing will be exempt from this increase.