A report by PwC for the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) shows that increased UK gambling tax and regulation would both reduce tax revenue and encourage illegal offshore betting.
Hot on the heels of the BGC CEO’s warning that increased gambling taxes in the UK could see an uptick in black market operations, a report from PwC commissioned for the BGC has findings that echo his concerns. Specifically, the report highlighted that more restrictive regulatory environments tend to lead to lower spends with licensed operators.
Looking at cases in Sweden, Denmark, and the UK, compared to other countries across Europe, the report claims that increasing taxes led to lower revenue for licensed operators and pushed bettors to offshore, unlicensed providers. Rather than reducing gambling activity, increased taxation appears to only push it underground.
Looking at the UK in particular, the PwC report states: “The size and growth of the unregulated market [in the UK] has increased in recent years alongside the implementation of tighter regulations.”
Where before the UK’s channelization rate (or the spend with licensed operators) was either growing or holding steady in the last few years, it has dropped two percentage points since the tightening of regulatory environments.
What does this mean for the UK tax increase on gambling?
This latest report adds more fuel to the fire of opposition to a proposed UK gambling tax increase, with industry leaders coming out in droves to argue against Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ proposed plans. Between reducing industry revenue and threatening thousands of jobs, the potential move is being fiercely opposed by those working in the sector.
The Chancellor is expected to raise the General Betting Duty from 15% to 30% in her Autumn Budget later this month, a dramatic increase that would have varied knock-on effects throughout the British gambling space.
Featured image: Shutterstock, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
The post UK gambling tax hike risks cutting revenue and driving bettors to illegal markets, report warns appeared first on ReadWrite.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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