A stark warning has been issued to the UK government via a YouGov poll, which suggests that one-third of players would move to unregulated online gambling sites if new taxes result in lower sports betting odds.
The comment has been made by the Betting and Gaming Council following a YouGov survey. According to the report published by the Betting and Gambling Council, 22.5 million adults are gambling in the UK. Therefore, if the YouGov stats come true after Labour raises taxes, we are looking at close to 7.5 million of those gamblers heading to overseas online gambling platforms.
That figure is probably a little oversimplified, but still, even if we water it down, we are talking about millions lost in taxes. In other words, raising taxes is likely to be counterproductive for Labour, but the question is whether they will heed the warning.
It seems odd to tax an industry whereby the clientele has access to overseas casinos that can potentially offer more value. Therefore, the question now is why tax the UK industry further to fuel a black market industry that the UKGC and other stakeholders in the industry have made considerable efforts to prevent?
More disturbing is the fact that the white paper has finally gone through the motions, and the dust has only just begun to settle. Now, when the industry is finally stabilising after three years of uncertainty, the Labour government continues to hint it wants to restructure how it taxes the UK online gambling market.
It was also not long ago that we breathed a sigh of relief when the government announced it would not raise taxes after threatening to double the gambling tax. However, we somehow knew deep down that the last budget meeting wasn’t the last we were going to hear on the topic.
Source: I sourced my information for the content in my latest UK gambling news report via the Betting and Gaming Council’s official news story PUNTERS WOULD SWITCH TO GAMBLING BLACK MARKET IF TAX HIKES.
The Problem at Hand
Right now, changing Labour’s mind is going to be an uphill task. Keir Starmer and his band of cronies seem determined to squeeze the British public for every penny possible. It’s not just the gambling industry that is suffering; there has been no shortage of protests from other industry sectors, to no avail. It feels suspiciously like the British gambling industry is in the same boat.
Then there’s the disconnect from the gambling industry for fear of public reprisals. The media have publicly shamed past MPs for accepting premium seats for sports events paid by companies connected to the online gambling industry. As per Matthew O’Connor’s recent article covering increasing taxes for horse race betting, MPs either don’t know about the economic dependencies of horse racing or express concerns about appearing too closely aligned with gambling interests.
If that is the case, what are the chances that anyone from the gambling sector will be able to reverse Labour’s plans? We have to hope the UKGC steps in and makes its voice heard.
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Punters likely to use black market if legal offers removed | 28% |
| Punters who have already used a black market site | 14% |
| Punters not confident identifying black market sites | 29% |
| Estimated annual UK black market stake | £4.3 billion |
| Estimated number of UK black market users | 1.5 million |
| Monthly UK adult gamblers | 22.5 million |
| Estimated problem gambling rate (NHS Health Survey) | 0.4% |
| Jobs supported by BGC members | 109,000 |
| Economic contribution of BGC members | £6.8 billion |
| Tax generated by BGC members | £4 billion |
| Annual BGC contribution to horse racing | £350 million |
| Annual BGC contribution to English Football League | £40 million |
| Monthly gamblers who bet safely/responsibly | Overwhelming majority |
| Total prize pool (relevant monetary figures) | £15.49 billion |
Casinoplusbonus Opinion
I’ve said this before, and I will repeat it: these MPs literally don’t know what they are doing. They come up with a big idea over s salmon sandwich, and it’s almost always directed towards cigarettes, alcohol and gambling. The first of those three I am not bothered about!
The other point I need to make is that I feel the government has a complete disconnect from reality. That reality is that the UK gambling market just went through one of its longest periods of instability after the White Paper reforms to the Gambling Act 2005.
Why add more instability just as we thought everything was plain sailing? And I can tell you for a fact that when I am in the UK and play online casino games, I do so at UK sites. Sometimes, I play while I am overseas via a VPN (but don’t tell anyone). However, mostly when I am in Canada or travelling through Asia, I will play at a crypto casino.
I know one thing, too. I am looking forward to the 10x wagering requirements rule, but if it means I will get worse odds on my UK sportsbook versus my crypto sportsbook, then where do you think I will be spending my money? You can add me to that one-third statistic issued by the YouGov poll. On the other hand, I can’t really see how the hike in taxes will affect online casinos as much as it will sports betting sites. The only real downside could be less free spins bonus offers and maybe the removal of cashback offers.
What do you think? Please let us know in the comments or head over to our Casinoplusbonus forum to discuss the topic with other players.
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