The UK Gambling Commission has revealed a new set of rules for gaming machines, which it claims will make games ‘fairer and safer’.
However, industry stakeholders are concerned that it could be a case of too little, too late to save them from the government’s next tax grab.
Machine Games Duty (MGD) is currently levied at 20% on the terminals, which are typically found in betting shops, bingo halls and Adult Gaming Centres.
But there are fears that the chancellor, John Healey, will hike MGD as high as 40% in his Autumn Budget, which will almost certainly lead to more betting shops being permanently closed.
Gaming Machine Rule Changes
As part of the new rules, Category B gaming machines – which tend to have higher stake limits than other categories – will be required to offer more ‘gambling management tools’ to players.
Those will include information on session times, as well as clear updates to show the player’s current financial position, including on-screen profit or loss indicators.
Premises owners will also be provided with more in-depth sessional information, which will offer them more scope to identify any customers that are showcasing signs of gambling harm.
Game designers will also be tasked with implementing a range of improvements. They include a change to the way that wins are presented – if the amount won is lower than the player’s original stake, games will be prohibited from showing celebratory messages or sounds on screen.
And all features that accelerate game time, specifically those that allow a player to speed up play and get to the result of their spin quicker, will now be banned.
These new rules have come as a result of the consultation findings into the Gambling White Paper, which was published many moons ago back in 2023. The Gambling Commission considered the evidence gathered during that consultation period, amending some of the practical and technical elements in order to ‘reduce the risk of unintended consequences.’
It’s considered unfeasible for existing gaming machines to be updated to the new standards due to the technical challenges imposed, with the regulator also suggesting that the ‘costs to business would not necessarily deliver proportionate consumer benefits.’
The new standards will be rolled out in phases, with June 2027 the target date for the vast majority of implementation.
The Gambling Commission’s director of major policy projects, Helen Rhodes, commented:
“These measures will help both to empower consumers to understand and manage their gambling and ensure operators play their part.
“We are confident that the consultation has led to a package of changes where the benefits to consumers are proportionate to the costs of implementation, and that the staged timeline for implementation is reasonable and achievable.”
Machine Gaming Duty Concerns
What level of appetite that operators have for the changes will largely be determined by the outcome of the government’s Autumn Budget, which will be unveiled by Healey in the House of Commons on October 28.
Industry insiders have already begun to speculate on what might be inside Healey’s red briefcase, with suggestions that income tax changes – such as increasing the personal allowance – and business rates relief could be on the agenda, alongside an increase in defence spending.
But how will those be financed? By raising MGD, the gambling sector fears.
The Prime Minister has spoken out against high street gambling, with betting shops and Adult Gaming Centres previously described as ‘dodgy businesses’ by the PM.
The hike of Remote Gaming Duty in last year’s budget revealed Labour’s stance that the betting industry is an easy target, with Healey unlikely to leave MGD untouched at 20% later this month.
The former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has implored the government to hike Machine Games Duty, with Burnham and his right-hand man though to be considering a major increase.
If Healey does double MGD, as has been speculated, then it would have a catastrophic knock-on effect for the sector, with as many as 16,000 jobs in peril if gambling premises are considered no longer financially viable by their operators.
“A 40% MGD rate could lead to up to 1,470 betting shop closures and 15,900 job losses and ultimately result in a net loss to the Exchequer of around £120million,’ warned Entain chief Stella David.
The Rank Group, meanwhile, have revealed that if MGD is doubled, they could be forced to close around a third of their Grosvenor Casino and Mecca Bingo properties – at a cost of around 2,000 jobs.
A press statement from the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) today details how the sport would lose £92 million a year due to the volume of betting shops closed as a result of any MGD hike.