Rachel Reeves is set to attend a gambling lobbyist’s event ahead of the chancellor’s widely expected tax hike later this autumn.
Reeves will appear at a ‘private reception’ for business leaders organised by the corporate communications company Brunswick at the upcoming Labour party conference in Liverpool.
As per the Guardian, the event will be hosted by Michael Dugher – the chair of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) who joined Brunswick as a part-time senior adviser last year.
Dugher, a former Labour MP, stepped down in 2017 during Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as leader seven years after being elected to serve his constituency of Barnsley East.
He recently informed the BGC’s members, which includes online casinos, of his efforts to persuade the Treasury not to hike taxes on the gambling sector.
Reeves is widely expected to raise taxes on gambling firms to cover the cost 0f lifting the two-child benefit cap, which restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.
UK betting sites currently pay tax in two categories – a general duty that covers racing and pool betting taxed at 15% of gross profits and a remote gaming duty that concerns casino games levied at 21%.
The chancellor is rumoured to be set to harmonise online gambling tax into a single rate, which the British Horseracing Authority fear it could cost the sport as much as £160 million – putting its future at risk as well as thousands of jobs, rural communities and vital funding for horse welfare.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on Reeves to raise taxes on the “undertaxed” gambling industry – calling it “by far the most cost-effective way” for the chancellor to prevent a social crisis.
Dugher reportedly has a longstanding political and personal friendship with Reeves which goes all the way back to their teenage years.
Some MPs and a parliamentary standards campaigner argued the chancellor should refuse Dugher’s invitation. Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said the decision “raises real questions about the chancellor’s judgement and impartiality on this matter particularly when it is widely known that she has taken both recent hospitality and donations from the sector.”
Reeves accepted three tickets to a musical worth £330 from the BGC in 2023 alongside £20,000 in donations from gambling executives while Labour was in opposition.
Joe Lyons is a betting industry writer for GamblingIndustryNews with years of experience on reputable gambling websites. Joe specialises in long form content in the world of sports betting and gambling. Joe is recognised as an expert in sports fields such as horse racing, soccer, NFL and NBA.
