Gambling taxes deliver jackpot for government

Gamblers are contributing record amounts to the UK exchequer, with the tax take last year at an all-time high of £2.2bn.

Total receipts from betting rose by 30 per cent between 2012 and 2014, largely fuelled by a new tax on gaming machines that have become prevalent in recent years.

Machine games duty, payable on revenues from cash prize games, generated £563m in 2014, according to figures published by HM Revenue & Customs this week.

The levy raised almost three times as much last year than amusement machine licences, which it replaced in 2013, delivered in 2012.

The contribution of machine players was only surpassed by the record £852m in duty - payable at 12 per cent - raised on lottery ticket sales. The price of playing Lotto, the National Lottery's flagship game, doubled to £2 in late 2013.

While tax on casino gaming profits also rose to record levels (£317m) in 2014, bingo duty - halved to 10 per cent in 2014 - generated its lowest amount in almost three decades.

The government has targeted digital betting terminals, which deliver substantial profits for high street bookmakers, with higher taxes. An increase in the duty payable on games where stakes exceed £5, from 20 to 25 per cent this March, is expected to raise a further £75m in the current tax year.

However, fixed-odds betting terminals, which often offer casino games, have raised public concerns over their association with problem gambling.

The Campaign for Fairer Gambling, which is calling for much lower betting limits, has described electronic fixed-odds machines as "the crack cocaine of gambling", given that bets of up to £100 can be placed every 20 seconds.

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