Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch Rips Into Labour’s Gambling Tax Proposals

Kemi Badenoch has slammed the government’s plans to hike UK gambling taxes. The Conservative Party leader didn’t mince her words, launching a stinging attack on Labour’s proposals to hit betting companies, suggesting that further rate increases risk “cannibalising” the high street.

The tax burdens have weighed heavily on the shoulders of bookmakers. In April, remote gaming duty on online casino wagers soared from 21% of gross gambling yield (GGY) to 40%, while in April 2027, general betting duty paid on online sports bets will climb from 15% to 25% of GGY, with horseracing exempt.

Budget plans causing a stir

While the tax hikes announced in the November Budget by then-Chancellor Rachel Reeves caused friction, the measures rumoured to be included in next month’s budget by new Chancellor John Healey are unlikely to go down too well either.

An increase in the Machine Games Duty (MGD) rate to 40% is in the pipeline, but such plans have been rubbished by Rank Group CEO Richard Harris as “nonsensical”.

Aside from the casino industry expressing their reservations, there have been other outcries from some of the UK’s biggest betting companies.

Entain, for example, is gearing up for a fresh round of job cuts which could see 400 redundancies made across the customer care division, and the company’s CEO, Stella David, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, expressing her concerns about MGD.

Meanwhile, Betfred co-founder Fred Done used an opinion piece for The Sunday Times to express his misgivings over a prospective MGD raise, lambasting the proposals as a ‘raid by the morality police’. Having rummaged through the numbers, Betfred claimed that a doubling of the MGD rate could see a further 495 shops closed, equating to 45% of their overall retail estate presence.

Badenoch doesn’t hold back

Although the government appears to be hellbent on carving up the betting industry, Badenoch has sprung to its defence. In the run-up to the budget last year, Badenoch positioned herself as an ally of the horseracing industry, and once again, she has been highly critical of Labour’s proposals.

She told The Sun:

“Labour are in the tax doom loop. They raise taxes, businesses close, less money comes in, and so they have to raise taxes further.

“What they’re doing is just cannibalising business. The good companies, the ones that follow the rules, that pay their taxes, will go out of business.”

Demise of retail betting

The rise in national insurance costs has also been cited for the raft of betting shops that have closed down over the past year. Over the summer, Betfred revealed it was shutting down 132 venues, while Paddy Power has pulled the plug on 100 land-based establishments across the UK and Ireland, underlining the challenges facing bookies.

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), which has been a vocal critic of tax rises, referred to recent modelling carried out by accounting company Ernst & Young (EY).

It was noted that should the MGD rate be lifted to 40%, this could see 16,000 jobs cut, 1,500 betting shops closed, while the Treasury would be £124 million worse off for it.

Like the BGC, Badenoch is growing increasingly concerned that the stringent measures imposed on the regulated industry will drive more punters towards the black market. But whether her worries will be realised in relation to the budget, only time will tell.