Genting Casinos will close its Coventry venue after concluding that mounting operating costs and taxation have made the property commercially unsustainable.
The operator confirmed the decision following a consultation with employees at the casino, which opened in 2012 and currently employs 51 people. Genting said it considered available alternatives before deciding that continued trading was no longer viable.
The closure adds to growing concern about the financial position of Britain’s land-based gambling sector, where operators are dealing with higher employment expenses, business rates, energy bills, regulatory compliance costs and gambling taxes.
Genting said those pressures have progressively reduced margins across its retail casino operations and warned that further tax increases could put additional venues and jobs at risk.
Particular attention is now focused on Machine Games Duty ahead of Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget on 28 October. The government has confirmed the Budget date, although no change to MGD has yet been formally announced.
Machine Games Duty is currently charged at three rates. Machines with a maximum stake of no more than 20p and cash prizes capped at £10 face a 5% rate, while the standard rate is 20% and the higher rate is 25%.
Proposals discussed ahead of the Budget have included doubling those rates to 10%, 40% and 50%. Genting argues that an increase of that scale could make a significant number of physical casinos uneconomic.
Separate reporting indicates the potential impact could extend well beyond Coventry. Genting UK CEO Paul Willcock said that 13 of the operator’s 32 venues could be at risk if the proposed increases went ahead, potentially affecting at least 850 employees from a UK workforce of more than 3,000.
The pressure comes after major changes to online gambling taxation were introduced following the 2025 Budget. Remote Gaming Duty increased from 21% to 40% on 1 April 2026, while a new 25% General Betting Duty rate for most remote betting is scheduled to take effect from April 2027. Remote bets on UK horseracing will remain taxed at 15%.
Genting believes extending significant tax increases to land-based machine gaming would have different consequences because physical casinos carry substantially higher property and staffing costs than online businesses.
The operator has warned that further casino closures would eliminate skilled jobs, reduce investment in local economies and shrink the leisure and night-time economy in towns and cities where casinos operate.
It also argues that weakening the regulated land-based market could create more opportunities for illegal gambling venues. Genting maintains that keeping licensed operators commercially sustainable is important not only for employment and tax revenue but also for maintaining consumer protections and preventing gambling activity from moving into the unregulated sector.
The Coventry closure therefore places Genting among a growing number of UK gambling businesses warning the government that additional retail taxation could accelerate the contraction of the country’s regulated high-street and land-based gambling market.