Clichés aside, the stakes may never have been higher for the UK's gambling companies. The businesses have been hit by the introduction of the 15 per cent point of consumption tax (PCT); a move by government to bag taxes from all bets made by UK customers irrespective of where the online operator is located. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) says this has had a material impact on operators who moved their operations offshore to territories such as Gibraltar and Malta where they were previously "exempt from paying betting duties in the UK".
Not everyone has been losing their shirts to Westminster tax initiatives, though. Bingo business Rank Group (RNK) has actually been a beneficiary of government policy - notably via the reduction in bingo duty from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. At the group's results in August, management said part of the £11.3m tax windfall had been ploughed back into the business. Separately, former investment landowner and corporate counsel Paul Richardson was brought in as group director of strategy and corporate development - a position responsible for assessing acquisition opportunities.