Rachel Reeves urged to hit betting corporations with tax hikes within the Budget
A committee of MPs has called on the Chancellor to press ahead with taxing harmful parts of the gambling industry with tax rises
Rachel Reeves has been urged to resist “industry scaremongering” and announce gambling tax hikes in the Budget.
An influential committee of MPs says the Chancellor should press ahead and punish firms “extracting huge amounts of money” from gamblers and causing “staggering” harm.
In a new report, the Treasury Committee acknowledged that many people gamble safely, from seaside arcades and bingo halls to betting on the races and football.
But it warns there has been a big shift to online betting games that “promote harmful, addictive, high frequency gambling that brings no benefits to people, families and communities”.
Despite lobbying, the committee said it rejected the industry’s assertion that gambling causes “no social ills”.
Dame Meg Hillier, its chair, said: “We heard that the industry is hiding its more insidious parts behind the friendly facade of its traditional, cultural forms.
“For too many people, the highly addictive and harmful nature of online betting games has seriously impacted their lives and the lives of those around them.
“The impacts of problem gambling in our communities are plain to see, and the industry’s boldfaced claim to our inquiry that it does no social harm is staggering.”
She went on: “Online betting games are extracting huge amounts of money from people who have been funnelled into the most addictive, harmful corners of the industry via their love of sports, or the occasional game of bingo.
”We are urging the Government not to cave in to industry scaremongering and to tax online betting games at a rate that reflects the level of harm they inflict.”
The report cites government figures showing the gross gambling yield – a measure of profits – for online operators has soared by more than 60% in the past decade to £6.9billion a year.
It recommends increasing the 21% remote gaming duty, largely levied on the profits from online operations, as well as the 20% machine games duty, which mostly applies to physical slot machines.
Both should be more than the gaming duty paid by casino clubs, it says.
Any rise risks prompting a backlash from bookies that claim higher online taxes mean less money for their wider operations, including high street stores.
Critics have also claimed that an increased machines games duty will hammer the income of seaside arcades, pubs and bingo halls that house slot machines.
The MPs also urge the government to take steps to tackle industry warnings that tax hikes could drive people into the arms of black market betting firms.
The report follows speculation that Ms Reeves will spare horse racing from increased gambling taxes.
