Ninety Labour MPs push Machine Games Duty rise as BGC fights back

Ninety Labour MPs have urged Chancellor John Healey to introduce a higher Machine Games Duty rate for Category B machines. This is intensifying the lobbying battle ahead of the Autumn Budget on 28 October.

The letter, led by Halesowen MP Alex Ballinger and published on 16 October, calls for a targeted increase while protecting lower-category machines. It has prompted a forceful rebuttal from the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC).

What are the MPs proposing?

The signatories want a higher rate for Category B machines. This includes those found in adult gaming centres, betting shops, casinos and bingo premises.

Their formal request does not specify a rate. However, it cites Social Market Foundation (SMF) modelling examining a rise to 40%. This is compared with the 20% currently applying to B3 machines.

Lower-category machines would remain unaffected. The letter also seeks to preserve the abolition of Bingo Duty, although that would not exempt bingo venues’ Category B machines from the proposed change.

The SMF estimates that doubling Category B duty could generate between £275 million and £458 million in additional annual revenue. Its argument links higher taxation to gambling harm and the concentration of adult gaming centres in deprived communities. These figures are the think tank’s estimates, rather than confirmed Treasury forecasts.

BGC warns of closures and lost revenue

BGC chief executive Grainne Hurst described the suggestion that higher taxes would protect high streets as “deeply misguided”.

Citing EY modelling, she said a 40% rate could threaten up to 16,000 jobs, close nearly 1,500 betting shops and 34 casinos, and leave the Treasury up to £124 million worse off.

“Every closure means another empty shopfront, fewer jobs and another blow to Britain’s high streets.” — Grainne Hurst, BGC chief executive.

What could a rise cost individual venues?

MGD applies to net machine takings: money received from play minus winnings paid out. It is not charged on every pound staked.

For an illustrative venue generating £500,000 annually from affected machines, a rise from 20% to 40% would increase duty from £100,000 to £200,000, assuming unchanged takings.

That would leave £100,000 less to cover wages, rent and other costs. This is a worked example, not an industry-average forecast; actual exposure depends on each venue’s machine mix and revenue.

The political contest now centres on competing predictions: whether higher duty would deliver additional revenue and reduce harm, or accelerate closures and erode other tax receipts.

The BGC’s public response puts employment and high-street survival at the centre of its case. The Budget will reveal whether ministers accept that argument.