HMRC
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HM Revenue and Customs has revealed that UK gambling has tracked £1.61bn in tax receipts during the first half of the fiscal year (April to September), which is an eleven per cent increase from the £1.45bn collected one year earlier.

In these latest provisional results, HMRC noted that the “majority” of receipts from the sector came via lottery (30 per cent) and remote gaming duty (28 per cent). However, it is added that each of these areas have tracked decreases.

Acknowledging that RGB “is by far the largest of the four gaming duties,” the tax receipts of £461m represents an eight per cent (£40m) drop year-on-year.

“Over the previous three financial years RGD had increased year-on-year, potentially due to gamblers utilising online services in lockdown more so than they would if betting shops, bingo halls and other gambling premises were open as normal,” the report said.

The provisional results also highlighted that machine gaming duty generated a tax income of £267m, which is 150 per cent (£160m) up YoY and is said to be “returning to a similar level as the first two quarters of the 2019 to 2020 financial year”.

Gaming Duty charged on land-based casinos stands at £76m, which is substantially higher (629 per cent) that the £11m collected during the same period during the prior year but still lags behind pre-lockdown results.

The provisional April to September lottery duty receipts were £490m, a performance that is one percentage point lower YoY.

“Since the first quarter of 2021 to 2022, lottery duty receipts have been relatively stable having been fairly volatile over the two previous financial years, which was heavily impacted by coronavirus lockdowns,” it was added.

Meanwhile, betting duties generated from fixed odds wagers and pool betting stand at £313m, down six per cent (£20m) on the tax income generated last year.

Reported under the general betting duties category, fixed odds wagers (retail and remote) generated year-to-date income of £309m. This reflected a softer April and July 2022 period, matched against peak 2021 comparatives that featured record wagering at Cheltenham Festival trading and UEFA Euro 2022.

Furthermore, the provisional figures also show that bingo duty receipts stand at £11m, which is 92 per cent (£5m) higher than what was reported during the same time frame in 2021.

“Receipts in machine games duty, gaming duty, and bingo duty have increased since the second quarter of 2021 to 2022 compared to the same quarters in the previous year, which is likely to reflect betting venues opening up which had been closed due to Coronavirus lockdowns, whilst receipts for these duties remain generally lower compared to the few years preceding COVID,” the report continued.

Elsewhere, HMRC also cited a decrease in high rate liabilities in recent years since a reduced £2 wagering limit was placed on FOBT machines. Since this policy change it is added that drops from £433m in the 2018/19, to £31m in 2019/20 financial year and less than £1m in subsequent years has been witnessed.