According to an article in The Guardian on Saturday, some of Britain’s most well-known operators have quietly lobbied Treasury officials against a proposed industry crackdown, claiming it will cost millions of pounds in lost tax receipts.
The betting industry claims there is a “very real risk” that the taxes of about £3.2bn a year it hands to the Treasury could be hit by tougher rules for the sector.
From the artricle:
Documents released under freedom of information laws reveal that executives from Bet365, Flutter, which operates the Paddy Power and Betfair brands, and Entain, which operates the Ladbrokes, Coral and PartyCasino brands, held an online meeting with the Treasury and Revenue and Custom tax specialists on 7 October last year and warned against what they feared may be excessive proposed regulations in the review.
The betting firms submitted a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, commissioned by the industry, which found an increase in unlicensed online gambling in the UK. The betting firms warned the black market could be fuelled by a wide-ranging overhaul of gambling laws.
A two-page document presented to officials warned: “It is vital that the government takes a holistic view of tax and regulatory changes over the coming months or there is the very real risk that the UK’s remote gambling sector is hit in a way that not only reduces its economic and fiscal contribution, but also increases levels of gambling-related harm by incentivising a shift to unlicensed gambling operators that pay no UK tax.”Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/...osed-crackdownThe details of the lobbying by the industry have angered relatives of those who have lost their lives while in the grip of gambling addiction. The charity Gambling with Lives, a community of families bereaved by gambling-related suicides, has spearheaded the campaign for reform. Judith Bruney, 62, from Sheffield, whose 25-year-old son Chris killed himself in April 2017 after he gambled £119,395 in five days without spending checks, said: “The industry wants to get away with the minimum change that they can. Surely they must know what damage it causes.”
Charles Ritchie, co-founder with his wife Liz of Gambling with Lives, said there needed to be a package of new reforms, including redesigning the most addictive games, and tougher sanctions against the industry when it failed to implement player safeguards. He said: “You have a highly profitable industry and the fines can be viewed as a cost of business. There needs to be a more effective punishment regime.”