Britain’s gambling trade associations have been urged to coordinate their lobbying more closely as operators face another period of tax and regulatory pressure across both online and retail gambling.
Richard Bradley, Gambling Lead Solicitor at licensing law specialist Poppleston Allen, said organisations including the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), Bacta and the Bingo Association could strengthen their position by identifying issues on which the wider sector can present a common case to policymakers.
His comments come after Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% on 1 April 2026. A separate 25% rate of General Betting Duty for most remote betting is scheduled to take effect from April 2027, replacing the current 15% rate for those bets. Remote wagers on UK horse racing will remain at 15%. The government expects the wider gambling-duty changes announced in the 2025 Budget to raise more than £1bn annually.
Industry Faces Another Potential Tax Increase
Attention has now shifted towards Machine Games Duty, with Chancellor John Healey reportedly considering an increase as part of the next Budget.
Current MGD rates stand at 5%, 20% and 25%, depending on the type of machine and permitted stakes and prizes. Recent reports have suggested the government is examining higher taxation for higher-stakes machines, particularly those operating in betting shops and adult gaming centres.
The possibility has intensified lobbying from retail operators. Entain, owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, recently warned Prime Minister Andy Burnham that a substantial MGD increase could add around £100m to its annual retail costs. Industry-backed modelling has also suggested that a major rise could lead to betting-shop closures and job losses, although those projections are estimates commissioned by the sector rather than government forecasts.
Bradley argued that trade bodies would be better served by relying on transparent, well-supported evidence rather than repeatedly presenting dramatic headline figures. In his view, the stronger case is that cumulative increases in taxation and operating costs could make an already difficult retail environment less viable, particularly for smaller businesses.
He also suggested that tax, employment, investment and the future of high-street premises should be considered together rather than treated as separate policy disputes. Greater coordination between trade associations, individual operators and advisers could therefore help demonstrate the combined effect of regulatory and fiscal changes.
Retail Gambling Also Faces Licensing Changes
Tax is not the only issue affecting the sector. Burnham’s government has announced plans to scrap the Gambling Act’s “Aim to Permit” principle, giving councils and communities greater influence over whether new gambling premises open on their high streets. New planning requirements for adult gaming centres are also planned in England.
The government has presented the reform as part of a wider effort to give communities more control over local high streets. The BGC has countered that licensed betting shops should not be treated in the same way as rogue businesses and has pointed to the long-term decline in the number of retail bookmakers.
Pressure is also coming from within the industry itself. Betfred founder Fred Done recently predicted that high-street bookmakers could disappear by 2030 if costs and taxes continue rising. Bradley took a more measured position, arguing that the retail sector is under substantial strain but that some operators will adapt their estates rather than abandon physical locations entirely.
For Bradley, the central challenge is therefore not simply making the industry’s lobbying louder. He believes gambling businesses need clearer evidence, consistent explanations of the economic consequences of policy changes and greater agreement on areas where their interests overlap.
That approach does not require every trade organisation to adopt identical positions. Instead, he argued that coordinated evidence on shared concerns could carry more weight with government than competing claims from different parts of the sector — particularly as the industry prepares for further tax changes and a reshaping of gambling regulation on Britain’s high streets.