REEVES' TAX RAID IS A JACKPOT FOR ILLEGAL BOOKIES

The Chancellor’s decision to hike Remote Gaming Duty to 40% from April this year is set to accelerate the shift towards illegal operators, according to new independent analysis.

Research by H2 Gambling Capital concludes the tax raid, alongside lower onshore RTP, is expected to push more customers away from Britain’s regulated betting industry and towards the illegal black market. With a further increase in Remote Betting Duty due from April 2027, the report warns additional tax hikes will pile even more pressure on licensed operators.

The shift is already underway. Offshore online gambling turnover has surged from £5bn in 2019 to £16.6bn today and is forecast to more than double again to £36bn by 2031.

The report forecasts the illegal market's share of online betting will more than double, from 10% in 2025 to 22% by 2031, as the proportion taking place with licensed operators falls from 90% to 78%. That means more than one in every five pounds staked online could end up with offshore operators instead of Britain's regulated market.

The Betting and Gaming Council said the findings underline the importance of ensuring Britain's world-leading regulated betting and gaming market remains competitive, so customers continue to choose licensed operators offering robust consumer protections rather than illegal sites.

Grainne Hurst, Chief Executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, said:

"The Chancellor’s tax hikes are handing illegal gambling operators a competitive advantage.

"Britain has one of the world's leading regulated betting industries, supporting more than 109,000 jobs, generating £4bn in tax every year and funding some of our most-loved sports.

"But if ministers keep making the regulated sector less competitive, customers won't stop betting. They'll simply take their money to the growing illegal black market, where there are no safer gambling protections, no age verification checks and no taxes paid to the Treasury.

"The only winners from these tax hikes will be criminal operators based overseas. Britain will lose jobs, investment and tax revenue, while consumers are pushed towards operators offering none of the protections found in the regulated market."

The report also forecasts illegal gambling revenues will more than double from £685m in 2025 to £1.4bn by 2031, growing at almost 13% a year, while Britain's regulated online market is forecast to grow by just 0.2% annually and shrink by 12% in real terms over the same period.

The BGC warned the figures show how higher taxes are handing an increasing competitive advantage to illegal operators, threatening the £4bn in annual tax revenues, 109,000 jobs and millions of pounds in funding for British sport generated by Britain's world-leading regulated betting and gaming industry.

The full report is available here.