In what was the first Labour budget for almost 15 years, it was widely anticipated that following think tank lobbying in the run up to the red briefcase reveal, the gambling industry would feel the wrath of the Labour government, which raised taxes by £40bn. 

The decision however to avoid burdening the gambling industry with significant tax rises was praised by Stephen Hodgson, Deputy Group Tax Director at Entain as ‘a sensible decision’. He also backed the decision to launch a future consultation on reform of online gambling taxes.

The Betting and Gaming Council also backed the move with CEO Grainne Hurst, emphasising that ‘any duty rise would have hit customers, prevented growth, risked jobs and bolstered the unsafe, unregulated gambling black market’.

She added: “The Government has listened to the BGC and our members, got the balance right, and rejected calls from anti-gambling prohibitionists seeking to threaten jobs and growth.

“With policy for the sector already set, our members can look to support the Government’s ambitious growth agenda, generating tax, jobs and investment across the nation while continuing to support sports like horseracing.”

She did however warn that ‘while there have been no rises in gambling duties, we will study the impact that increased employers’ National Insurance contributions will have on BGC members, particularly smaller operators like independent bookmakers and land-based leisure operators, like casinos.”

Hurst added: “BGC members contribute £6.8bn to the economy, generate £4bn in tax while supporting 109,000 jobs.

“The regulated betting and gaming industry also provides some of the country’s most popular sport with vital funding.

“According to a report by EY commissioned by the BGC, horseracing benefits to the tune of £350m annually, the English Football League and its clubs receive £40m, and snooker, darts and rugby league receiving more than £12.5m.

“BGC members are working with the Government and the Gambling Commission to deliver the proposals contained in the White Paper, many of which we called for to raise standards.”

Nonetheless, Partner at Keystone Law and Gaming, Licensing and Regulatory Lawyer, Richard Williams took to Linkedin to warn that “In light of these proposals, it appears that remote gambling duty will be merged into a single tax in due course and at a single rate. 

“On the basis that the 21% rate of remote gaming duty is unlikely to be reduced, the most likely outcome is that remote betting/pool betting duty will also be increased to 21% of GGY in the not-too-distant future. 2025 is likely to be negative for the remote gambling industry, but for now, the feared duty increases have not materialised.”

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A Guardian report revealed that Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is seriously considering the proposals of two think tanks to raise gambling taxes as the search for extra funding continues for the embattled government 

Underlining just how significant the hike would be on the sector, Hurst said: “The current speculation around taxes is being driven by anti-gambling campaigners, based on fantasy economics, and are simply not credible.

“I want to be very clear with the government, any further tax rises now will not only slam the brakes on growth for our sector, but it will threaten jobs and completely derail horse racing.

“Our industry is at a crossroads as we seek to implement the measures contained in the White Paper, measures that will cost our sector over £1bn. We also can’t ignore the new levy on research, prevention and treatment for problem gambling, which will raise £100m a year from bookmakers. 

“After so many years of uncertainty, we need stability to deliver sustainable investment, not further change which threatens to undo that contribution.”

Online casino games are thought to be at the centre of potential tax hikes, as part of a campaign pushed by multimillionaire Labour donor, Derek Webb. 

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which put forward the proposals, said as much as £2.9bn could be raised now, a figure growing to  £3.4bn by 2030 through an increase in remote gaming duty to 50%, more than double the 21% it currently sits at. 

Additionally, another think tank backed by Webb, the Social Market Foundation, is reportedly looking at a proposal that would have a smaller impact on the industry, but still strengthen government finances.

However, Hurst also issued a stark warning on the black market: “Any new taxes now risks giving a leg-up to the lurking menace of the black market, which is hoovering up disaffected customers with eye-catching offers but none of the protections that are in place in the regulated market.

“Customers have been hit hard for years, with increasing pressure on the cash people have available to spend on the hobbies they enjoy, once bills and taxes are paid. Now is not the time to ramp up that pressure. 

“Betting and gaming remains a hugely popular pastime in this country, with around 22.5 million people having a flutter each month, and it is enjoyed safely by the overwhelming majority. Our members are a Great British export and genuine global leaders, delivering enormous economic goods in city centres, on high streets and in the growing online sector.

“We want to partner with the government to see the right, proportionate regulations, and a stable tax regime, which doesn’t hit customers, doesn’t raise the attraction of illegal operators and doesn’t derail the horseracing industry, but instead delivers on the government’s growth agenda.”

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In addition to providing monetary support for athletes, Entain and SportsAid will cooperate on supplying personal development opportunities and recognition to athletes, such as workshops providing advice on topics such as nutrition, mental wellbeing and media relations.

The support will be unrolled ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the partnership having been in place since 2018, distributing awards to over 150 athletes for sponsorship and event fundraising.

Grainne Hurst, group director of corporate affairs at Entain, said: “Following the incredible performance from British athletes at this year’s Olympic Games and the Paralympics getting under way in Tokyo, we are delighted to extend our SportsAid partnership for a further three years.

“Our collaboration with SportsAid is a huge source of pride for everyone at Entain and plays a pivotal role in supporting the next generation of British sporting heroes.”

The partnership’s current support includes 50 aspiring athletes a year from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with an annual financial support package contributing towards training, competition, travel and equipment costs.

Additionally, 48 of the SportsAid alumni representing the team have received financial support from the charity since Rio 2016 and its Team GB athletes won 46 medals across 20 sports.

Meanwhile, 165 of the 227 Paralympics GB team members at the latest games received financial support from SportsAid during their careers.

“Entain’s extended commitment will take us all the way up to the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024 and comes at a very important time for talented young athletes – particularly following a challenging period over the last 18 months,” commented Tim Lawler, SportsAid CEO.

“Our partnership with Entain has continued to evolve year-on-year and the well-rounded support provided to these aspiring young sports stars gives them added confidence and motivation to pursue their ambitions. We have also seen an increased awareness of SportsAid and a much wider audience is hearing the stories behind the next generation of sporting heroes.”

Danny Crates, a Paralympic gold and bronze medallist and SportsAid ambassador, added: “Talented young athletes need the right support, at the right time, to help them fulfil their potential and ultimately achieve their ambitions.

“SportsAid has maintained a crucial presence across British sport over the last 45 years – playing an important role in the country’s international success throughout that time.”

The renewal builds on Entain’s support for the Pitching In grassroots football project, a multi-million pound partnership which the company has been involved in since December 2020.

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The hub, which was developed with the help of funding from GVC, has been launched to coincide with schools breaking up for summer and is a new portal that is set to provide information, activities and support to help parents and carers understand the potential risks associated with gambling and gaming including products such as loot boxes.

Grainne Hurst, GVC’s Group director of corporate affairs, stated: “YGAM is an incredible organisation and its simple, usable resources help parents have honest and open conversations with their children about gaming and gambling. We are delighted to have been able to support its vitally important educative resource hub, which launches at a crucial time, during the summer holidays. 

“GVC’s Changing for the Bettor strategy seeks to advance society’s collective understanding of the risks of problematic gaming and gambling, and we look forward to continuing our support of YGAM’s evidence-led efforts in this area.”

With the launch of the Parent Hub, YGAM aims to Inform parents of ways to build their children’s resilience online and offline, educate parents and safeguard children through the use of online safety settings and increased awareness of how to stay safe and resilient in their environment.

Lee Willows, YGAM’s founder & chief executive, added: “GVC are longstanding supporters of YGAM and we are grateful for their support of Parent Hub alongside operators Lottoland and Playtech as a cross-industry initiative. Our vision was to have an up to date, central expert resource library for parents and carers and extend our successful face-to-face directly to parents, with a fully integrated digital offer, which is phase two of this important initiative.”

In addition to providing resources which underpin informed conversations between parents and children, the hub also provides parents with a number of technical, but easily implementable measures, such as: 

• Disabling pop-ups 
• Enabling in-app and on-device parental controls 
• Setting passwords for in-game purchases 
• Restricting and disabling in-app purchases 
• Setting boundaries – for example by setting a monthly spending limit

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Under the terms of the multi-year agreement alongside the UK’s independent gambling harm minimisation consultancy, advice is to be provided and training delivered across three key areas.

Providing guidance on the company’s responsible gambling strategy, Epic is to focus upon identifying the best approach to take when interacting with individuals displaying signs of problem gambling.

In addition a series of RG workshops are to be rolled out across the highest risk populations, including charitable partners working within problem gambling support.

Further developments are to see the delivery of “the world’s largest face-to-face gambling awareness and education programme for school children”.

GVC and Epic are to deliver courses to 12,000 school children, across 100 UK state establishments over a two year period, with the aim of enabling individuals to make “more informed decision” when old enough to partake in gambling.

Within each area Epic is to also provide a number of additional services, including key case reviews, policy development, executive support and education.

Paul Buck, chief executive of Epic Risk Management, explained: “Epic are committed to reducing gambling related harm, and helping to advise and educate organisations in the highest risk sectors in how to pro-actively make gambling safer and fairer for all, especially young people.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with GVC as they aspire to improve standards around responsible gambling, and provide a safer environment for their customers and their employees.”

Working alongside Epic marks the latest strand within GVC’s CSR strategy, for which the organisation has rolled out a series of policies under three principal pillars of responsible gambling, responsible employer and responsible communities.

Grainne Hurst, GVC’s director of responsible gambling, added: “We are delighted to be working with Epic, and to be able to utilise their expertise to help us to deliver an industry-leading approach to all aspects of responsible gambling.

“This agreement supports our commitment to create the safest gaming environment for our customers, employees and wider society, including young people.”

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Titled ‘Changing for the Bettor,’ that sees the organisation is striving to become “the most trusted and enjoyable betting operator in the world,” GVC has outlined a seven pillar approach, encompassing an increased understanding, heightened education, promotion of responsible attitudes, customer empowerment, increased funding, more responsible product design and driving cultural change.

Grainne Hurst, GVC’s director of responsible gaming, said of the announcement: “Whilst the vast majority of our customers enjoy playing with us in a safe and fun environment, we are aware that for some players, gambling can impact their lives negatively.

“We are committed to leading the industry in minimising potential harm caused by problem gambling.

“That is why we are today launching Changing for the Bettor, and have partnered with Harvard faculty at the Division on Addiction, to help us to better understand and tackle the issues around problem gambling.”

Furthermore, as part of the organisations “commitment to better understand and reduce the potential for problem gambling behaviour,” GVC is to also provide the Division on Addiction with access to anonymised player data, across a range of its brands’ sports betting and gaming products.

Detailed as long raging, the research is set to focus on a number of areas including patterns of normal internet gambling behaviour, behavioural markers of gambling problems among internet players generally and on specific betting and game types, cross-product analyses, cross-brand analyses and the effects of the expansion of gambling in new markets.

Through this collaboration an evaluation is to be undertaken on the effectiveness of algorithms used by GVC and other operators to detect at-risk behaviours, assess the effectiveness of intervention messaging and the impact of responsible gaming tools.

Mims Davies MP, UK Gambling Minister, commented: “Gambling operators have a key role to play in protecting people from harm, and identifying potentially risky betting behaviour.

“Research is essential to progress in this area, and GVC’s ‘Changing for the Bettor’ campaign will make an important contribution to tackling problem gambling.

“We are committed to protecting consumers across the country, and are working with [the] industry to create a healthy and more socially responsible sector.”

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