After months of rumours and speculation as to what it would contain, the UK chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her Autumn Budget today.
And, as expected, there was good news for horse racing and high street betting shops.
However, online sports betting has been hit hard with a considerable tax increase, while online casinos will have to shoulder the burden of a whopping 19% tax hike – a move on the part of the government that could have catastrophic consequences for the niche.
Racing Ahead
After the rumour mill ground into gear a matter of months ago suggesting that a tax grab on the betting industry was incoming, stakeholders within horse racing launched a charm offensive.
The ‘Axe the Racing Tax’ campaign was launched, with notable trainers, owners and broadcasters descending on Westminster, while a whole day of racing was scrapped on September 10 in what could be described as the sport’s first-ever strike action.
Those within the sport claimed that a tax hike on gambling, an industry with which it has a hand in glove relationship, would have disastrous consequences for racing’s finances – taking it from the breadline into relative poverty.
So there were cheers on Wednesday as the chancellor revealed that the tax paid on horse racing bets would be frozen at 15% – of course, everyone already knew this anyway after the Office for Budget Responsibility accidentally leaked details of the spending plans hours in advance of Reeves’ speech.
British horseracing welcomes the decision by the Government to spare the industry from any punishing increase in direct gambling taxation.
Read the BHA’s full response: https://t.co/YTIVVDFOof#AxeTheRacingTax pic.twitter.com/5y8SK1k23h
— British Horseracing Authority (@BHAHorseracing) November 26, 2025
It’s not all positive though, as many bookmakers’ profits will be hit hard by tax hikes in other sectors of their business.
High Street Reprieve
Another expected move that came to pass was to free high street betting shops of tax hikes.
They too will continue to pay a 15% levy on their profits; creating a clear separation from the online sector.
It comes after numerous brands, including Betfred and Evoke, warned of mass shop closures if taxes were hiked on revenue.
But, of course, bookmaking firms with an online presence will still face a significant cut to their profitability – will that have a knock-on effect to shop closures that in turn causes thousands of redundancies?
On a similar note, the retail gambling sector will also benefit from the abolishment of bingo duty, which will come into force from April 2026.
And Now the Bad News
Any positives from the Autumn Budget can just as quickly be eradicated by the negatives.
General Betting Duty, which is the tax paid on sports bets placed online, will rise from 15% to 25% from April 2027.
And Remote Gaming Duty, the tax regime governing online casino sites, has been hiked by an eye-watering amount – up from 21% to 40% on gross gaming revenue, with the roll-out anticipated in April 2026.
“I will also reform gambling taxes in response to the rise in online gambling,” Reeves commented in her Commons speech.
“Remote gaming is associated with the highest levels of harm and so I’m increasing remote gaming duty from 21 per cent to 40 per cent.”
According to the chancellor, the reforms of UK gambling tax will raise around £1 billion for the Treasury annually by 2031.
Unsurprisingly, the decision to raid the sector has not gone down particularly well with everyone. Louie French, the shadow minister for culture, media and sport, described the move as ‘reckless’ and liable to cause the loss of thousands of jobs, while pushing more punters to the unregulated black market.
Labour’s hostility to people having a bet could cost our country billions in tax revenues, see businesses close and jobs lost, and jeopardise funding for British sport and charities.
Rachel Reeves is gambling with lives and livelihoods.
— Louie French MP (@louie_french) November 26, 2025
The stock market has also reacted with fear and scepticism. This morning, the share value of UK-facing firms had fallen by between 1% to 19%, with a few faltering even after the Budget was confirmed.
However, a bounce back in the afternoon suggested that the market was reacting to the news with some optimism. Entain’s daily share price had increased by 4.97% to £784 by 16:30 – despite having fallen to £712 just four hours earlier.
Flutter’s share price started the day at £15,000. It had fallen to £14,350 by lunchtime, but recovered to £15,125 by 16:30 – a real terms rise on what was an otherwise black day for the sector.
Do these market valuations suggest that the industry has got off lightly?