SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Jenningsbet has stated that the UK government’s plans to introduce a mandatory levy as part of the Gambling Act’s White Paper Review will hinder the bookmaker’s ability to continue with its charity work.
The mandatory levy, proposed at up to 1% of annual gross gambling yield (GGY) aims to collect funds for Research, Prevention and Treatment (RET) of gambling harms. The proposal has made Jenningsbet ‘worried’ about the shift from a voluntary fee as it might affect independent retail bookmakers by subjecting them to ‘disproportionately’ high levy costs, resulting in closures and job losses, writes Vicky Knight, Head of Safer Gambling at Jenningsbet.
Knight further highlighted that there are currently 536 independent betting shops left across the UK (from the 696 in 2019), which generate a total of £5.5m in business rates and contribute more than £25m in taxes – something made difficult by the increasingly shaky economic landscape.
Independent bookmaker businesses on the other hand have seen a 43% decline in five years, dropping from 145 in 2018 to 82 in 2023 – having a knock-on effect on the wider community, with a study by ESA Retail stating that 89% of betting shop punters visit other local businesses as part of their trip to the bookies.
UK’s Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) estimates show that the current proposed levy of 0.4% Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) risks sinking around 492 bookies across 38 businesses, with Knight further reminding that independent bookmakers’ margins are ‘simply not big enough’ to comply without experiencing closures or job losses.
Discrepancies were further raised by Knight when it came down to the 406 Adult Gaming Centres and 115 Family Entertainment Centres in the UK, which will be exempt from the 0.4% uplift and will instead pay 0.1% despite also operating on the high street and having similar operating costs to independent bookies.
This is similar to the National Lottery, which has enjoyed a GGY of 0.01% over the course of the last three years – which Knight branded as ‘tiny’ in her statement when compared to the size of the entire sector.
In conclusion, the Head of Safer Gambling at Jenningsbet called for the government to not exclude the voice of independent bookmakers from any discussions on the reforms, as “supporting the levy can’t come at the cost of closed shops and sacked staff”.
