UK amusement and land-based gaming trade association Bacta has vowed to push back against any attempt by PM Andy Burnham and to use Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs) as means to fund tax relief for other high-street businesses.
The PM’s “Burnham means business” plan aims to reinstate stability within the UK leisure economy by introducing a 20% business rate relief for pubs, clubs, and live music venues.
Funding from these cuts, envisioned to be implemented in April 2027, has been confirmed in the plan to partially come from vape shops.
And although AGCs have not been directly listed in the plan itself, when speaking to the media last week, Burnham named the sector outright alongside vape shops as “socially harmful” – hinting at AGCs potentially being used as an additional funding source.
Prompted for a response by SBC News, Bacta remained firm that it will oppose any such action by the government, and that Burnham’s views that AGCs are a cause of harm are unfounded.
Allaster Gair, Director of Communications at Bacta, said: “Bacta will oppose any attempt to make AGCs pay for relief awarded to other high street businesses.
“Pubs, clubs and music venues deserve support, but that support should not be funded by imposing further costs on another lawful, licensed and heavily taxed sector. AGCs already pay Machine Games Duty, irrecoverable VAT, business rates, statutory levy contributions and substantial compliance costs.
“Singling them out would be arbitrary, economically damaging and particularly harmful to independent and family-owned operators.”
Burnham‘s claims “unsupported”
Gair went on to call the PM singling out AGCs as anti-social establishments “a sweeping and unsupported characterisation”, urging for a clear distinction be made between individual operator failures and the performance of the whole AGC sector.
“AGCs are adult-only, alcohol-free, staffed, supervised and subject to licensing by both the Gambling Commission and local authorities. They operate under strict rules on customer interaction, self-exclusion, age verification and safer gambling.
“Gambling harm must be addressed seriously, but individual harm, operator failure and harm to a local community are not the same thing. Where standards are
breached, enforcement should be targeted at the operator responsible. It should not be used to justify collective punishment of an entire sector.”
Gair concluded by citing government estimates which put AGC Gross Gaming Yield (GGY) at a level far below that of other licensed gambling sectors.
This includes retail casinos, bookmaker shops and online gambling businesses, and invited the government to bring forward any evidence to support the claim that AGcs are harmful.
He said: “The government’s own statutory levy places AGCs at 0.2% of Gross Gambling Yield, below casinos, LBOs and most online gambling businesses. That is difficult to reconcile with the suggestion that AGCs are among the most harmful businesses to society.
“The evidence shows a regulated, tax-paying sector that supports jobs, occupies premises and contributes to local economies. The government should publish the evidence for any claim to the contrary.”
