‘Bad For Jobs’ – BGC Hits Out at Gambling Tax Rises

by Jamie Smith, 2 December 2025

The government’s move to increase gambling taxes to raise over £1 billion for the public purse has been criticised by industry bodies.

Jobs could be hit by gambling tax rises in the UK. sigre, Pixabay

Key Facts:

• Chancellor Rachel Reeves has overhauled UK gambling taxes
• General betting duty, on sports bets, will rise from 15% to 25%
• Horse racing betting will be exempt from the gambling tax rises
• But the BGC has hit out at the Labour government’s decisions

Chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced the gambling tax rises in her Budget, which she delivered to parliament last week.

Reeves had been urged to raise gambling taxes by former prime minister Gordon Brown, who said the move could end child poverty by raising much-needed funds.

However, companies and industry groups had warned of the potential impacts of tax rises hitting the sector, and they have spoken out against Reeves’ decisions.

Remote gaming duty, a type of gambling tax levied on online casinos, is set to nearly double from its current rate of 21% to 40%, with the change taking effect next April.

General betting duty, levied on online sports bets, is also going up from 15% to 25% next year, although Reeves confirmed that horse racing will be exempt.

Bad for Safer Gambling

In addition to the government’s decision to exempt horse racing from the increase in UK gambling taxes, Reeves made a surprising announcement that bingo duty will be abolished. However, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), while acknowledging those two welcome moves, responded to the Budget.

Grainne Hurst, the BGC chief executive, described the tax rises for the gambling sector as “massive” and claimed the UK now has some of the highest levies in the world for the betting industry.

Hurst added the news will come as a “devastating hammer blow to tens of thousands of people working in the industry across the UK, and millions of customers who enjoy a bet”.

The BGC boss pointed out the regulated betting and gaming industry supports almost 110,000 jobs in the UK and already contributes more than £4 billion in tax annually.

Hurst said: “While we welcome the decision not to raise land-based duties and to scrap bingo duty – these excessive online tax increases will undermine jobs, investment and growth across the UK.”

“The government’s Budget is a massive win for the incredibly harmful, unsafe, unregulated gambling black market, which pays no tax and offers none of the protections that exist in the regulated sector. These decisions are bad for jobs, bad for customers, bad for sports – and bad for safer gambling.”

Boosting the Black Market

Entain is among the country’s largest betting companies, owning British gambling brands such as Coral and Ladbrokes.

The company’s UK PR director Simon Clare echoed the BGC warning that the Budget could boost black market unregulated gambling.

He said: “The budget was a devastating blow. We always said tax rises were going to hurt the sector badly, but we didn’t expect the size of the quantum increase on remote gaming duty, and in the increase on everything bar British racing on remote in April 2027.”

“It’s going to hit the betting sector really hard and will affect consumers and the sports we support. The only winners we can see are the black market, which is already threatening the legal sector and has now been given carte blanche to outcompete and attract customers who aren’t safeguarded, while paying no taxes.”

“From that, there will be no money flowing into racing and sport.”