Uk Gambling Tax Increase
In the UK, new regulations have been introduced by the UK Gambling Commission in 2014. In addition, a point of consumption tax (POC) called the remote gaming duty (RGD) of 15% has been introduced by HMRC from 1 December 2014 and is payable on all bets made by UK customers irrespective of where the online operator is located. No, gambling is tax free in the UK. While players in some countries such as the USA, France, and Macau have to deal with gambling taxes between 1% and 25%, bettors in the United Kingdom have the privilege of keeping the entirety of their winnings.
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- Uk Gambling Tax Increase 2019
The gambling industry in the UK is increasing at a rapid pace. Indeed, the industry has increased from being worth 8.4 billion pounds in 2011 to roughly 14.4 billion in 2018.
Why has this happened and what is pushing the increase? Well, there are a number of factors to consider here.
The Impact Of The Growing Industry
The new growth of the gambling industry is certainly bringing benefits to the economy. In 2018, according to statistics by the Statista there were more than 100,000 people employed in the UK gambling industry. Interestingly, the majority of these employees were in the betting sector with the number exceeding 53,000.
There are also now over 8,400 betting premises throughout Britain and yearly off-course horse betting alone brings a turnover of 4.32bn.
Despite there being a substantial level of jobs and roles in this sector, it’s interesting to note that the majority of gambling businesses were run with less than ten people. This suggests that businesses can be quite small and easy to handle. As such, they could be the perfect option for younger individuals who are just starting to enter the market.
The Gambler Demographic
It is worth exploring the demographic of the typical gambler. It is perhaps unsurprising to note that the main population of gamblers are quite old, between the ages of 45 and 64. However, there have been signs that gambling is becoming more popular with a younger demographic. This is true despite the fact that cases of underage gambling have actually decreased significantly.
How Do People Gamble?
Perhaps one of the main driving forces for the increase in the gambling industry is the extended number of options. It’s true to say that gamblers have more possibilities than ever on how they want to place a bet. While they can visit a local business, it’s also now possible and easier than ever to gamble online. The online gambling industry has been increasing steadily over the past few years and more people than ever are choosing this route to place a bet.
In 2018, there were more than 36.6 million online gambling customer accounts. These were registered at facilities approved and licensed by the Gambling Commission of Great Britain. While you might assume that most of these accounts were inactive, research showed that 33.6 million had been used in the past year. This suggests that people are taking advantage of this possibility and using it regularly.
Increase Gambling Tax In Uk
Uk Gambling Tax Increase Limit
There is a massive variety of different online resources that people can use for gambling. Sites like 100Bestonlinecasinos provide information about the different possibilities, their benefits and the signup bonuses available to new customers.
As well as providing key information on the benefits of different resources, sites like this also help eliminate bad practices and rogue operators on the market. This is important as one poll revealed that trust in gambling has declined over the past seven years with many customers becoming cautious of unfair practices.
Changes In Government
The government has taken strikes to ensure that the growth of the gambling industry while also guarantee that issues with fixed-odds betting terminals are eliminated. For instance, the government has increased the tax for online gaming throughout 2019. At the same time, machines have been forced to lower the maximum stake.
This is estimated to help reduce the tax revenue by £1.5 billion over the next five years. Taxes on gambling operators located outside the UK are also set to increase to cover any potential losses. It’s currently unclear how these changes are going to impact the growth in the UK gambling industry. Many have suggested that a restructure will be necessary while some companies may struggle to keep the doors open.
Despite this, there is little sign of the popularity of gambling in the UK diminishing. Indeed, gambling is more popular than it has been in years and this is certain to help businesses cope with the coming changes. One change that we could see is the further decline of the high street bookie as more customers turn towards online possibilities.
Uk Gambling Tax Increase Income
It’s clear then that gambling is more popular than ever in the UK. This is undoubtedly due to an increase in available technology and more online options. Thanks to new tech it’s possible to gamble remotely on your phone or virtually any other tech device. It will be fascinating to see how far the gambling industry will spread over the upcoming decade and whether government changes will have an impact on the potential growth.
Photo by Keenan Constance on Unsplash
A government enforced, incoming raise on point of consumption tax (POCT) will hit UK gambling operators this October, forcing them to pay up a higher slice of their online casino revenues. The hike in tax comes after the UK Conservative Chancellor Philip Hammond announced his 2018 Autumn Budget in the House of Commons last October.
The Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) will rise from 15% to 21% on October 1, an increase wasn’t as steep as some operators had initially feared with some predictions forecasting as high as 25%. Such forecasts initially saw share prices of some of the major UK-listed gambling firms suffer sharp declines meaning the lower rate, while still the third online tax increase in the past four years, will come as much relief to many operators.
Uk Gambling Tax Increase 2019
Lost Revenues
The raises in online gambling taxes come as a way of balancing out lost revenues after the much promised and often delayed reduction in betting limits on the fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) was finally introduced in UK betting shops this April, lowering bets from £100 to just £2. The stake cut was supposed to be taking effect in October but was brought forward to April after the government’s delay drew fierce criticisms and even cabinet resignations.
Such is the worth of FOBTs to a bookmaker’s high street revenue that the original delay saw the bookmakers rake in an extra £900 million windfall over that time period and sparked the former sports minister Tracey Crouch’s resignation in disgust. Overall, Gambling Commission statistics suggest that, at their peak, around £5 million a per day was being wagered on FOBT machines. Since the cut however, early indications suggest that such revenues have been reduced by around 40 per cent.
The government’s estimate of its new tax rate predicts an initial tax revenue of £130 million, rising to £255 million in 2020-21, before building to £290 million in the 2023-24 budget and making up over £1.22 billion in total over the first five years. In contrast, the FOBT stake cut is expected to cost the government £1.15 billion over the same period.
Curb On Advertising
Now that the government have turned their guns on the UK gambling industry, it is perhaps less surprising that the industry has also agreed to curbing their current advertising efforts. It has been agreed, industry wide, that gaming operators will withdraw from all pre-watershed live televised sports advertising from August and are also considering removing their football shirt sponsorships deals too.
The new enforcement will not apply to Horse Racing where sponsorships will continue to be allowed and, only this week, UK bookmakers Betfred penned a three-year deal running from 2019-2021 to be named the Official Bookmaker of Ascot racecourse and the Royal Ascot Festival.
Currently, marketing in sports from gambling firms account for 12% of all revenues so any move is likely to have a considerable negative impact on the sports sponsorship market. With the rules around sponsorships changing, as well as new higher tax rates, these are interesting times indeed for the online gambling industry in the United Kingdom.