The UK government’s Autumn Budget could have one of the most seismic, negative impacts on the gambling industry ever witnessed.
That’s the view of sector insiders, who – still reeling from the tax raid announced on Wednesday – have predicted mass job losses, cuts to sponsorship budgets and the furtherance of the unregulated ‘black market’ of illegal operators.
By the financial year 2026/27, Flutter is predicting that they will lose around £650 million in underlying earnings.
And the CEO of William Hill and 888, Per Widerstrom, blasted the ‘highly damaging’ budget and warned that his company would be forced to make widespread redundancies as a direct consequence of Rachel Reeves’ tax hike.
Tax Grab
Although a moral victory was declared by horse racing and high street betting shops following the chancellor’s announcement on Wednesday, in reality the lost revenue in other areas for multi-channel betting firms means that both will still be impacted in the long run.
The rate of tax on horse racing and retail sports bets was frozen at 15% in the budget, while the duty paid by bingo halls was abolished altogether.
But the general betting duty, which is levied on online sports bets, will increase from 15% to 25%, while the tax on remote gaming firms – online casinos and the like – will rise from 21% to 40%.
The majority of betting operators are ‘multi-channel’, which means that they offer retail and online sports bets as well as casino platforms. So while some strings of their business will see no tax grab, casino games and sports bets will see significant losses in revenue from April 2026 and April 2027 respectively.
And the consequences are already being felt. Independent bookmaker AK Bets has confirmed that they will be reducing their horse racing markets in the near future, claiming that the sport is not a profitable revenue stream for his business.
Meanwhile BetGoodwin, a regular sponsor of horse racing meetings in the UK, has confirmed that it will be pulling all of its sponsorship funding.
The True Cost
Those are just two of the small and medium bookmakers that have been impacted by the budget. But the situation for the major industry players appears to be equally as dire.
Flutter, the owner of Paddy Power and Betfair, has revealed that its forecast puts lost revenue, caused by the increase in taxes, at £650 million over the next two years.
That will likely see the firm scale back its investment in the UK, cut jobs, close betting shops that operate on tight margins and forego sponsorship of British sporting events.
And another consequence is that Flutter plan to ‘cut promotion and marketing spend’, which could see punters offered weaker odds and miss out on weekly promos and concessions; perhaps spelling a cut back on much-loved offers like Best Odds Guaranteed.
Entain CEO Stella David described the tax raid as ‘punitive’, revealing she was ‘deeply appalled’ by the chancellor’s attack on the industry.
“The only winner is the black market, which has hit the jackpot,” she commented.
Widerstrom, meanwhile, reiterated his belief that the Treasury will actually get less money in tax from the regulated sector after the budget as firms cut back on their UK infrastructure.
The Evoke boss said:
“We will begin immediately on executing mitigation plans, which involve a significant reduction in investment into the UK and, very regrettably, the likely need for thousands of jobs to be cut up and down the country.”
Black Market Boom
An unintended consequence of the budget is that more and more punters will access the unregulated black market.
The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) put their estimate at £500 million extra a year going to illegal operators, but many believe that’s a particularly optimistic forecast.
In the Netherlands, where gambling tax was hiked in 2025 and will hit 37.8% in January 2026, there has been a substantial uptake in the number of punters turning to the black market – with the government missing out on vital tax income.
By October 2025, black market revenue was said to be higher than that of legal operators. And while a similar pattern is unlikely in the UK, it goes to show the appeal of firms offering better prices and promotions – even if customers put themselves at risk with firms that can operate free of regulation.
Flutter’s chief executive, Kevin Harrington, warned of the perils of the unregulated sector.
“The chancellor rightly wants to address harm, but these changes will hand a big win to illegal, unlicensed gambling operators who will become more competitive overnight.
“These black market operators don’t pay tax and don’t invest in safer gambling.”