The government has confirmed plans to introduce a gambling levy but been warned that the new tax could affect charities’ finances.
It announced yesterday that a statutory levy on gambling operators will come into effect in April 2025, allocating the around £84m a year raised to research, prevention and treatment of harms caused by the industry.
The levy will be introduced via secondary legislation and require society lotteries, like the People’s Postcode Lottery, to pay a lower rate of 0.1% from their gross yield.
Society lotteries previously warned that the levy could divert up to £1m per year from going to good causes and the People’s Postcode Lottery has now criticised the government’s decision to proceed with its plans.
A spokesperson for People’s Postcode Lottery told Civil Society: “This is a very disappointing decision which ignores the polluter pays principle and negatively impacts charity funding at a time when they are already facing increased costs due to the national insurance rise.
“This decision will mean that charities are in effect being forced to subsidise work to tackle gambling harms which are not caused by them.”
Meanwhile, the charity GambleAware, which is set to receive some of the money raised, welcomed the government’s announcement.
‘Vital’ that charities collaborate
Plans for a levy on gambling operators were originally proposed under the previous Conservative government.
In its plans published this week, the Labour government proposed to increase rates for gambling operators to raise between £90m to £100m each year, up from an initial goal of raising £84m annually.
It proposed to increase the rate to 1.1% for online operators, 0.5% for casinos and bookmakers and 0.2% for bingo.
Gambling minister Fiona Twycross, said: “We are clear that operators must continue to provide financial contributions at their current levels until the levy is in force.
“It is also vital that all parts of the current system, whether statutory or third sector, continue to collaborate to ensure that people in need are able to access services they need as we move towards the new system.”
‘A significant step’
The government confirmed that the levy funding will allocate 20% to research, 30% to prevention and 50% to treatment of gambling-related harms.
Zoë Osmond, GambleAware chief executive, said: “This represents a significant step towards protecting people from gambling harm.
“The levy is also a crucial step towards ensuring continued support through a statutory system and is something we have been calling for since 2017.
“GambleAware is committed to supporting the new system which we hope will build upon the effective work of the National Gambling Support Network and others in the third sector, as well as harnessing the strategic commissioning and campaigning expertise that already exists.”
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