Labour MPs urge higher machine games duty on Category B machines

A group of Labour MPs led by Alex Ballinger has written to UK Chancellor John Healey asking for a higher rate of machine games duty (MGD) on Category B gambling machines, including B3 machines in Adult Gaming Centres. The letter was sent on Friday. It arrives before the Autumn Budget on 28 October, amid speculation that the chancellor will announce tax increases for UK land-based casinos.

According to the MPs, products that cause more harm ought to be taxed more heavily. They pointed to last year's government move raising remote gaming duty on online gambling from 21% to 40%, effective 1 April this year. In their view, a higher MGD would be a "popular, targeted and proportionate" revenue raiser, and pubs would escape it since Category B machines are not available there. Social Market Foundation polling was also invoked in the letter, showing that 43% of voters back tax rises on slot machines located in high street betting shops. The talk of a heavier burden on land-based venues had been set off by a Social Market Foundation report, with the think tank pressing the government to lift MGD on riskier Category B machines.

Grainne Hurst, chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, called the proposal "deeply misguided". She pointed to research showing that raising MGD to 40% would put as many as 16,000 jobs at risk and lead to the closure of nearly 1,500 betting shops along with 34 casinos. Hurst went on to say: "MPs calling for higher taxes should consider the consequences for the very communities they say they want to protect." She also warned: "Every closure means another empty shopfront, fewer jobs and another blow to Britain’s high streets."

Several senior figures from the UK casino industry used a panel at the Hippodrome Casino last week to press the government to think again about the plans. Dan Waugh of Regulus Partners took aim at the role of think tanks and lobbyists in gambling policy, remarking: "Frankly, a think tank with somewhat murky funding telling the government that gaming is this terrible thing is sort of irrelevant because they’re not the ones going to the casinos." He continued: "It’s not their lives that are being affected by this, so I think the critical thing for me for government is [to] understand the consumer’s perspective on this, sort of shut out the noise from all the lobbyists who are arguing off in their own vested interests."

Paul Willcock, COO of Genting Casinos, said tax uncertainty affects companies' willingness to invest in the UK market. "If we can get some relaxation or at least certainty on that, then investment will flow," Willcock said.

Deutsche Bank published an analysis last month concluding that, among operators, Rank Group faced the greatest exposure to an MGD increase, given its large retail footprint. Rank's trading update last week showed like-for-like NGR up 5% in the first quarter of its 2026/27 financial year. Richard Harris, the CEO, warned about a possible doubling of MGD: "Any increase to Machine Games Duty will increase costs, reduce venue viability, lead to venue closures and job losses, reduce tax receipts and halt investment." Speaking at the Hippodrome Casino last week, he had made a similar point: "I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of confidence in giving us the ability to kind of really back investment into our business." He went on: "Without confidence, things climb to a halt quite quickly. And just speculation about higher taxation actually brings investment to a halt. So that confidence is so critical to get things moving."