Two-fifths of people support increasing slot machine taxes

Research by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) shows that 43% of UK adults think that the government should increase taxes on slot machines in betting shops.

Over 40% of the voters from all major political parties believe the government should increase taxes on slot machines in high street betting shops, compared to only 11% who think that the taxes should be reduced. SMF’s proposal targets category B slot machines, the types commonly found in batting shops and bingo halls, as opposed to the lower stakes machines usually found in pubs. These category B machines are designed to encourage risky and repetitive gambling and have been associated with a greater rate of gambling harm.

Category B slot machines are often found in adult gaming centres (AGCs), which are more prevalent in less well-off parts of the country. Of the 1,400 AGCs in the UK, 47% of them are found in the 20% most deprived areas.

The SMF estimate that the economic cost of gambling harms caused by slot machines to be £2.3 billion annually. At present the tax revenue raised is only £600 million a year, and the SMF propose a 40% tax on category B machines only, while keeping the tax on lower-risk category C machines at 20%, and lower stakes machines at 5%.

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, made explicit the link between online gambling and harm when increasing the Remote Gaming Duty. The SMF argue that the same logic can be used for slot machines which rank second only to online casinos for gambling harm.

Gideon Salutin, Chief Economist at the Social Market Foundation, said: “Our modelling shows that raising Machine Games Duty is one of the few tax rises that would actually improve the public finances twice over.” He went on: “The public clearly understands this. When a plurality of supporters of every national political party back a tax rise on these machines, it’s a mandate for reform that shouldn’t be ignored by the Chancellor.”