Labour MPs led by Alex Ballinger have asked UK chancellor John Healey to raise machine games duty on Category B machines. The letter went out on Friday, ahead of the Autumn Budget on 28 October, which is expected to bring higher taxes for land-based casinos.
The signatories argue that higher-risk products should carry a higher rate. They point to last year's decision to lift remote gaming duty from 21% to 40%, effective from 1 April. The ask covers B3 machines in Adult Gaming Centres in particular and follows analysis by the Social Market Foundation, which proposed a higher MGD for Category B on risk grounds. MPs called the measure 'popular, targeted and proportionate' and said pubs are unaffected because they may not hold such machines. An SMF poll cited in the letter found 43% of voters back higher taxes on slots in high street bookmakers.
Land-based pushback
Betting and Gaming Council chief executive Grainne Hurst called the idea 'deeply misguided'. Raising MGD to 40% would put up to 16,000 jobs at risk and close nearly 1,500 betting shops and 34 casinos, she said, leaving boarded-up shopfronts on high streets. Casino representatives met at the Hippodrome Casino last week to press the government to rethink. Regulus Partners' Dan Waugh criticised the influence of think tanks and lobbyists on gambling policy, saying ministers should listen to consumers rather than interest groups. Genting Casinos chief operating officer Paul Willcock said tax uncertainty is holding back investment in the UK market and that certainty would bring it back.
Rank exposure
Deutsche Bank expects Rank Group to take the hardest hit, since its retail estate is the widest. Rank reported like-for-like NGR up 5% for the first quarter of its 2026/27 financial year last week. Chief executive Richard Harris warned MGD could double, and said any increase would raise costs and weaken venue viability, leading to closures and stalled investment.
