Hammond has planned on increasing the taxes paid by overseas remote-gaming operators who provide games like poker, roulette and blackjack. Government aides admitted that such move is expected to raise roughly £1 billion over a five year period.
The government’s concentrated effort on cracking down fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT’s) stirred up massive controversy as high street bookmakers have stated that it would cut their revenue in half.
The UK Government decided to proceed nevertheless and this will undoubtedly create a black hole in their budget; thus the money from the tax increase on offshore gambling operators can and should help fill the gap.
Last summer, ministers announced their plans on cutting the maximum FOBT stake from £100 to £2 in the hopes of dealing with the problem gambling following a long and heated discussion amongst legislators. These FOBT machines reportedly bring in over £1.8 billion in revenue and the exchequer receives around £400 million in the form of taxes. That is a lot of money for the government and hence why a number of legislators opposed the dramatic cuts on FOBT odds.
Source: GMB
