Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on the UK government to raise Machine Gaming Duty (MGD), arguing that the levy could generate up to £500 million for a resilience scheme to support households facing higher energy bills this winter.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Brown said a machine gaming tax could raise up to £500 million without affecting bingo halls or pubs. He proposed targeting Adult Entertainment Centres (AGCs) and using the proceeds to help people facing difficulties with fuel bills.
Brown also suggested that Prime Minister Andy Burnham might consider a similar approach. The remark has drawn attention because Burnham has taken an interest in high-street betting shops, including moving to remove the Aim to Permit rule after co-signing a 2025 letter calling for it to be scrapped.
A Familiar Playbook
Brown’s intervention follows his pre-Budget lobbying last year, when he called for Remote Gaming Duty to rise to 50%, MGD to 50%, and General Betting Duty to 25%. Then-Chancellor Rachel Reeves subsequently raised Remote Gaming Duty from 21% to 40% and set General Betting Duty to rise from 15% to 25% from April 2027, while leaving MGD unchanged.
The Betting and Gaming Council has warned that proposals to double MGD could lead to more than 2,900 betting-shop closures and reduce racing’s levy and media-rights income by £70 million, according to the Racing Post.
Retail Betting Under Pressure
JenningsBet owner Greg Knight said an MGD increase could create a perfect storm for betting shops and racing, combining tax pressure with rising media-rights costs. He said the annual cost of racing content and data for a typical JenningsBet shop had risen from £40,000, including VAT, five years ago to approaching £70,000.
Betting shops have also closed since the Budget. Entain chief executive Stella David said that 560 betting shops had closed since then.
Source: SBC News
When he is not analysing the latest compliance updates or dissecting quarterly operator results, Florian follows Bundesliga football closely and maintains a healthy skepticism toward anyone claiming to have cracked a winning betting system. He brings a grounded, insider-aware perspective to his writing and is always more interested in the structural story behind the headline than the headline itself.