Only 25% of People Have Any Level of Trust in the UK Gambling Industry

Only one in four people have any level of trust in the UK gambling industry, according to a senior research associate.

Charlie Buckley, representing non-profit research agency More in Common UK, spoke about the findings at the Labour Party Conference. According to Buckley, just 5% of those surveyed said they had a great deal of trust in the industry, while 20% said they had a fair amount of trust.

These numbers were slightly stronger than the tobacco industry, where 5% of respondents felt a great deal of trust and 16% a fair amount of trust.

Betting shops under fire

Buckley said that even among those that had some level of trust in the gambling industry, betting shops are widely seen as “a blight” on the high street.

A total of 65% of respondents said they wanted to see more regulation of the industry overall, feeding into the idea of a potential new gambling act, which was discussed by a panel at the conference.

The panel was made up of campaigners and MPs, including new gambling minister Vicky Foxcroft. In June, Labour MP Alex Ballinger said the UK government is looking into establishing a new gambling act to reflect the changes to the industry since the passing of the Gambling Act 2005.

Regulation is the theme

The Gambling Act 2005 marked a very significant moment in the history of gambling in the UK, establishing a comprehensive regulatory system for the industry in the wake of the growth of online gambling.

The Act led to licenses being created for remote gambling operators, as well as the creation of British regulator the Gambling Commission in 2007.

However, a number of significant regulatory changes have occurred since the Act was introduced. Controversially, the Act allowed for operators licensed in certain jurisdictions such as Gibraltar to operate and advertise legally in Great Britain while also paying tax at very low rates. This was updated in 2014, with the point of consumption tax being introduced, ending taxation at the point of supply.

In 2019, the maximum stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals were slashed from £100 to £2, which had a severe impact on retail betting. This was followed by a ban on gambling with credit cards in 2020, prior to the publishing of 2023 Gambling White Paper, which outlined more than 60 proposals to update the country’s gambling laws.

Taxation issues

From the start of April, remote gaming duty, paid on online casino bets, was raised from 15% of gross gambling yield (GGY) to 25%. In addition, general betting duty, paid on online sports bets, will go up from 15% of GGY to 25% in April 2027. All these post-2005 measures can make the Gambling Act appear outdated.

The increased taxation is proving to be particularly damaging for betting shops, which are already viewed negatively by the public, according to Buckley.

Since the tax increases were announced last November, shop closures have been confirmed by a number of tier one operators, including Flutter Entertainment, Evoke and Betfred.

There could also be an increase in machine games duty, with reports suggesting UK Chancellor John Healey is considering raising the rate to 40% of net takings in the October Budget, which would be double the current rate of 20% of revenue generated on gaming machines in both casinos and bingo halls.