He said: “We really in a mad world where a 25% tax rise is pitched as a victory for racing. Racing’s own estimates suggest this increase could close 2,750 bookies and cost the sport £50m.”
Industry consultant Dan Waugh, whose employer Regulus Partners previously modelled the effects of potential MGD rises, also echoed these sentiments, arguing that a 25% rate “really ought not to be a cause for celebration”.
He said: “You will see venues closing. You will see people losing their jobs. You’ll see racing finances come under further pressure, and the anti-gaming lobbyists will then paint it as being somehow the result of pernicious industry lobbying that prevented what the rate should have been.
“Whatever happens on 28 October, even if it’s no change, the industry really has to take a long hard look at itself and say, ‘why are we perennially in this position, and what are we going to do about it?’ Because if it doesn’t do that, then the rest is history.”
‘Don’t know whether to be relieved or angry’
Speaking to NEXT.io, one major bookmaker source added: “25% is still a damaging tax rise that will hits jobs and money to racing no matter how the Treasury try and spin it.”
Echoing these sentiments, one land-based casino source told NEXT.io they “don’t know whether to be relieved or angry.”
The individual said even at this rate they would need to close venues and make redundancies, something that will still likely occur throughout the country.
UK policy has been incoherent overall, they added, with the government moving to hike slots taxes just a year after a major deregulation push amid other pressures like inflation and energy costs.
“You can’t invest because you’ve got no faith and no trust in what’s going to happen next,” they said. “There’s no settled policy.”
The source continued by stating there was “zero chance of us making any investment here at the moment.”
In response to a question from NEXT.io last week on how the sector would respond to a smaller increase than the floated 40% rate, Rank CEO Richard Harris argued any increase in the rate would reduce the government’s overall take.
He said: “Any increase in [MGD] would reduce the tax take. If the tax rate on machines goes up, then venues become unviable. We’re very rational people. If you’ve got a non-viable venue that you can’t make work over a three-to-five year time period, that venue closes.”
Dingnews.com 22/10/2026