A 5 per cent rise in the duty paid on fixed-odds terminal betting is the latest step in the war on ‘addictive’ and ‘damaging’ gambling by the coalition government. George Osborne has announced plans to raise the tax from 20 to 25 per cent after criticising the machines for their addictive and harmful nature.
The machines have been dubbed the ‘crack cocaine’ of the gambling world but bookmakers represented by the Association of British Bookmakers have said they will introduce a facility allowing gamblers to set both money and time limits when choosing to play. The higher duty will add to existent machine gaming duty as well as the hefty 15 per cent point of consumption tax due in December. The latter is designed to target all off-shore and online gambling companies.
Immediately following the Budget speech, shares in British bookmakers William Hill (WMH) and Ladbrokes (LAD) fell 8 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, Mr Osborne will cut Bingo duty by half - from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. The drastic cut in duty prompted Rank Group (RNK), the owner of the Mecca Bingo chain, to announce three new bingo halls in the coming year. The shares rose 7.5 per cent in the wake of the Budget.
