Bacta challenges UK business-rate changes and prepares MGD consultation response

Bacta president Joseph Cullis said the association will challenge the decision on business rates, seek urgent clarification of its scope and take an active part in the consultation on MGD liability. Bacta was responding to the latest autumn Budget from John Healey's government, which raises the general rate of the tax on gaming machines from 20% to 25%.

The Budget also changes business rates affecting adult gaming centres in England. It also alters who is responsible for paying MGD under profit-sharing arrangements.

Bacta said it will keep working to limit the impact of the measures and defend the interests of businesses. Bacta also wants an end to the tax uncertainty that recurs each year, which it says holds back investment and complicates decisions for businesses and the wider supply chain. Cullis said Bacta raised the issue directly with the gambling minister at a meeting held the day before. He argued that the tax debate should be closed and that the government should now offer the sector stability. Cullis added that the forthcoming consultation on category D machines could be a first opportunity for the government to show a change of attitude.

Bacta maintains that its campaign prevented a larger increase. According to Cullis, political pressure to raise the tax to 40% was considerable, backed by 90 Labour MPs. He said some policymakers also raised 35% as a possible compromise.

Cullis said some lower-stake machines were left out of the increase, but other machines that are central to the commercial viability of many coastal arcades will bear it. He disputed the minister's statement that coastal arcades are being protected. Bacta also believes the decision may harm employment and business activity, and it questions whether final tax receipts will reach the government's forecasts once the effects on businesses are taken into account.