Slot Machine Tax Could Double in Chancellor’s Autumn Budget
Chancellor John Healey is reportedly weighing up a doubling of Machine Games Duty (MGD), the tax charged on slot machines in betting shops, arcades and bingo halls, ahead of the Autumn Budget on 28 October 2026. Treasury officials are said to be modelling how much extra revenue different rates could raise, with the change forming part of a wider effort to fund defence spending and cost-of-living measures.
What’s actually changed
Nothing has been confirmed yet, but according to reports first carried by The Times,
if Machine Games Duty was doubled, the lower rate would move from 5% to 10%, the standard rate from 20% to 40%, and the higher rate from 25% to 50%.
The idea follows thinktank proposals earlier this year to double the tax from 20% to 40% on Category B machines, which feature a £2 maximum stake every 2.5 seconds.
The Social Market Foundation, which pushed for last year’s increase to Remote Gaming Duty, has again been influential.
Category B devices are currently subject to an MGD of just 5% on stakes up to 20p, 20% on stakes up to £5, and 25% on stakes above £5.
The thinktank
has urged the government to raise the duty on Category B machines “to account for the harms caused by the sector,” estimating that doubling it to 40% could raise between £275 million and £458 million.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has separately backed a machine tax rise, telling the BBC’s Today programme that
“up to £500m” could be raised by increasing taxes on category B gambling machines without affecting bingo halls or pubs, targeting Adult Entertainment Centres instead.
This would follow last year’s Budget, when
Remote Gaming Duty was nearly doubled from 21% to 40%, implemented in April, alongside a planned rise in General Betting Duty from 15% to 25% from April 2027.
What it means for you
MGD is paid by operators on machine takings, not deducted from individual player winnings, so there’s no direct new charge on your account. But the sector’s own modelling suggests the knock-on effects would be felt on the high street rather than online.
Industry modelling submitted to the government claims doubling the rate would lead to 2,912 betting shops closing and cut the sector’s contribution to horse racing through levy and media rights by £70 million.
The Betting and Gaming Council argues this would compound damage already done.
It says that by the end of 2026, more than 600 betting shops will have closed and 5,000 jobs will have been lost since last year’s Budget, with the industry largely blaming closures on the online gambling tax rises that saw a 40% rate apply to digital casino play from April.
For players who use physical arcades, casinos or betting shops, fewer venues on the high street could mean less choice and, potentially, fewer staff on hand to signpost safer-gambling support.
There’s also a familiar warning from operators about displacement.
The BGC argues doubling the duty would benefit only the illegal gambling market, which pays no tax, contributes nothing to local communities and offers none of the consumer protections found in the regulated sector.
That’s the industry’s framing rather than an independent finding, but it’s a concern regulators have flagged in other contexts too.
The bigger picture
This would mark the second consecutive year the sector has faced a significant tax rise, and the deadline for lobbying is tight:
the government has set September 9 as the deadline for submissions, seven weeks before Healey presents his fiscal measures to the House of Commons on October 28.
Trade bodies are already mobilising, with Bacta’s president stating the group will
“continue throughout the coming months as we make the case against further increases in Machine Games Duty and any reduction in business rates support for our sector.”
Bacta’s own membership survey found near-universal alarm among operators:
all respondents said a significant MGD increase would have a negative impact on their business, with 90% describing it as severely negative.
Whatever the Chancellor decides, it sits alongside a broader pattern of UK gambling reform since the White Paper, where tax and regulation have increasingly moved in tandem, and where affordability, black-market displacement and high-street closures are recurring themes for players and regulators alike.
Sources
- SBC News – Machine Games Duty could double in John Healey’s Autumn Budget announcement
- Racing Post – Chancellor John Healey considering increase in gaming machine tax ahead of budget
- Intergame Online – Report: UK government eyeing Machine Games Duty rise
- NEXT.io – UK chancellor reportedly mulling slot machine tax hike
- Focus Gaming News – UK gaming hall sector activates “evidence-based strategy” ahead of Autumn Budget
