jili tutorial

UK Betting Industry Appeals to Jobs and Community in Anti-Tax Push

By jili tutorial · September 29, 2026

UK Betting Industry Appeals to Jobs and Community in Anti-Tax Push

A high-stakes lobbying battle ahead of the Autumn Budget

With the latest British government, led by its 59th Prime Minister, preparing to publish the Autumn Budget later this month, betting-related lobbying is intensifying. Major operators including Entain and Betfred have warned that shop closures would follow if the government doubles Machine Games Duty (MGD), the tax on gaming machines. Now the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the UK’s largest betting trade body, has joined the fight with a new public campaign, “Back Our Betting Shops.”

The campaign is designed to influence a decision that could reshape the UK’s retail betting market. The rumoured reform would double all three rates of MGD, and the industry argues the consequences would be measured not just in lost revenue but in jobs, communities and sport.

Machine Games Duty: what is it and why does it matter?

MGD is a tax on profits generated by gaming machines in licensed premises. It is a direct cost for betting shops, and for many high street operators, machine income is central to the business model. Unlike online gambling, retail betting shops carry high fixed costs: rent, business rates, staffing and utilities. When duty rises, those costs cannot easily be absorbed.

The three rates and the reported plan to double them

The government is reportedly considering increasing all three rates of MGD. The table below sets out the current and proposed rates.

BandCurrent rateReported proposed rate
Lower5%10%
Standard20%40%
Higher25%50%

To put this in practical terms, under the standard rate, £100 of taxable machine profit currently attracts £20 of duty. At a 40% rate, the duty would be £40. Doubling the higher and lower rates would have a similar proportional effect on machines in those bands.

Why that is a concern for betting shops

A doubling of MGD would be one of the largest single tax increases to hit the retail gambling sector. Operators argue it would make many branches unviable, particularly those in areas with low footfall or high rents. The warnings are not abstract: many of the biggest high street names have already been reducing their estates.

The BGC’s “Back Our Betting Shops” campaign

The BGC launched “Back Our Betting Shops” as its latest move in the lobbying war. Chief executive Grainne Hurst made an appeal based on the social role of betting shops.

“Behind every betting shop is a team of real people earning a living, supporting their families and playing a part in their local community,” Hurst said.

“These shops are not just businesses. For many people they are community hubs, familiar places on the high street where people work, meet and socialise, often with staff who have known their customers for years.”

She also pointed to the links between betting shops and British sport: “They also help support British sport, from horseracing to rugby league, including clubs and competitions that are themselves at the heart of communities across the country.”

A campaign built on community and jobs

The BGC has shifted its language away from the mechanics of taxation and toward the human impact. It wants the public to see betting shops as employers and social spaces, and to understand that closing them has consequences beyond tax receipts. The campaign’s name—“Back Our Betting Shops”—is deliberately simple, echoing campaigns for local businesses and the high street.

Who supports a higher MGD?

The gambling-reform side of the debate has broadly supported the rumoured increase. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been a vocal advocate of higher online gambling taxes, and the Social Market Foundation (SMF) think tank has also been supportive.

For these voices, gambling is a source of revenue that can be raised without the same political pain as income tax or national insurance. They also argue that higher levies on gambling can reduce harm by making products less attractive and by funding treatment and research.

This presents a difficult political landscape for the industry: it is not only fighting the Treasury, but also an alliance of campaigners and policy groups who see the tax as a positive step.

History repeats itself: the industry’s record of tax campaigns

This is not the first time betting-related lobbying has gone public. The BGC already ran a major campaign against Remote Gaming Duty and General Betting Duty increases in 2025. Last year’s efforts also included the British Horseracing Authority’s “#AxeTheRacingTax” campaign and The Sun newspaper’s “Save Our Bets” campaign.

Each campaign follows a similar pattern: the industry warns about jobs and harm to sport, while campaigners and politicians respond with arguments about public health, addiction and Treasury funding. The MGD fight fits that template, but the political mood may be less favourable to the betting sector than in previous years.

Operator warnings: the high street could lose betting shops

Fred Done, founder of Betfred, is clear about the risk. Betfred is the largest single retail betting chain on the UK high street, with more than 1,300 shops. In an interview with the Financial Times, Done argued that betting shops would become extinct on the high street by 2030 if the MGD increase went ahead.

Stella David, chief executive of Entain, which owns Ladbrokes and Coral, made similarly gloomy predictions in a letter to Andy Burnham. David’s letter stressed the place of betting shops in local communities and the employment they provide. Both operators have direct experience of closure programmes: Betfred announced the closure of around 10% of its retail estate this summer, while Entain has closed venues mainly in Ireland.

They are not the only ones retreating. Evoke-owned William Hill and Flutter Entertainment-owned Paddy Power have also reduced their retail estates. The industry’s central claim is that retail betting is already shrinking, and that a tax hike would accelerate the decline beyond the point of no return.

Political headwinds: social care, tax hikes and an easy target

The timing makes the industry’s challenge harder. Andy Burnham’s weekend announcement of plans to create an NHS-style system for social care—made with the warning that it could mean tax hikes across the board—reinforced the sense that the government needs revenue. In that context, an MGD increase is a politically convenient option.

Gambling is often seen as one of the less controversial targets for tax rises. It is an industry associated with harm and addiction, and increasing its taxes tends to create less public anger than raising taxes on fuel, income or property. The government may calculate that the political damage from a betting shop tax is minimal compared with the benefits of funding public services.

That does not mean the BGC is giving up. “We have already seen thousands of shops close and thousands of jobs disappear,” Hurst said. “Further tax increases would not just show up on a balance sheet. They could mean more people losing their livelihoods, more empty shopfronts and more communities losing businesses they value.

“That is why we are asking Britain to Back Our Betting Shops. This campaign is about telling the stories behind the statistics and making sure the voices of the people whose jobs and communities are at stake are heard.”

What to watch for in the Autumn Budget

The next few weeks will reveal whether the lobbying has made a difference. Key questions include:

For now, the betting industry is making an emotional and economic case. It points to the familiar betting shop on the high street, the people who work there and the sports it helps to fund. Whether that case outweighs the government’s need for money will be known when the Budget is published.