Business
MPs urge Reeves to tax online betting games to reflect the harm they cause
The government has been told by MPs that it should not “cave in to industry scaremongering” about the negative effects of taxing online betting games, and that it should tax them at a rate that reflects the harm they can cause.
The recommendation from the cross-party Treasury committee comes just weeks ahead of Rachel Reeves’s Budget, in which she will be looking to plug a substantial gap in the public finances.
In its report, released on Friday, the committee warned that online betting can lead to harmful, addictive, high-frequency gambling that delivers no benefit to the people taking part, their families or their communities.
The report urged the government to “more sharply recognise that different types of gambling inflict different levels of harm”, and recommended that this be reflected in its approach to taxing the activity.
The committee’s report said that while various forms of gambling, ranging from seaside arcades and bingo through to betting on the races and football, are safely enjoyed by many people, there is “another side to the industry”.
The shift towards online betting games has picked up pace in recent years, with the proportion of the “gross gambling yield” associated with remote gaming rising from 12 per cent in 2014 to 44 per cent in 2024.
The committee had called for evidence of the possible effects of taxing the activity, as it held a series of sessions examining the choices faced by the chancellor in her forthcoming Budget. It said it rejected the industry’s assertion that gambling causes no social ills. It also heard evidence that it said both supported and challenged the gambling industry’s concern that increased taxation could drive more customers to the black market.
The committee said it recommends that the government examine how to tackle black-market gambling, and consider whether additional anti-tax-avoidance measures were needed.
The chair of the Treasury select committee, Dame Meg Hillier, said: “Whether at a local racetrack or a seaside arcade, for many people, gambling is a fun pastime enjoyed with family and friends. But we heard that the industry is hiding its more insidious parts behind the friendly facade of its traditional, cultural forms.
“For too many people, the highly addictive and harmful nature of online betting games has seriously impacted their lives and the lives of those around them. The impacts of problem gambling in our communities are plain to see, and the industry’s boldfaced claim to our inquiry that it does no social harm is staggering.
“Online betting games are extracting huge amounts of money from people who have been funnelled into the most addictive, harmful corners of the industry via their love of sports or the occasional game of bingo. We are urging the government not to cave in to industry scaremongering, and to tax online betting games at a rate that reflects the level of harm they inflict.”
The chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), Grainne Hurst, said: “Further tax increases on the regulated online sector risk undermining consumer protections by pushing players towards the unsafe, unregulated black market – while reducing Treasury revenues and cutting the vital funding our members provide to British sport, including horseracing, football, rugby league, darts and snooker.
“We have always recognised that betting and gaming can lead to harm for a small minority, which is why our members are investing more than ever in safer gambling – including new stake limits on online gaming, enhanced affordability checks, swift data-driven interventions, robust advertising safeguards, and funding for a new £100m statutory levy for research, prevention, and treatment to tackle problem gambling and related harm.”
Ms Hurst added: “BGC members contribute £6.8bn to the economy, generate £4bn in tax, and support 109,000 jobs, while facing an effective tax rate of up to 80 percent when duties are combined with corporation tax, business rates, national insurance, VAT, and the new statutory and economic crime levies.
“Much is at stake in the chancellor’s Budget. Get it wrong, and it’s not just jobs and growth that will suffer, it’s safer gambling itself. To protect consumers and support a safer, stronger industry, we must keep gamblers playing within the regulated market.”
A spokesperson for Flutter UK and Ireland, whose brands include Paddy Power, Sky Betting & Gaming, Sportsbet and Tombola, said: “It’s not scaremongering to suggest that tax rates of 50 per cent on machine games and online games such as bingo – as demanded by the Institute for Public Policy Research – could have a significant impact on the industry, jobs and investment.
“A tax rise is not a free hit.”
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A United Airlines plane approaches the runway at Denver International Airport on March 23, 2026.
Al Drago | Getty Images
United Airlines flight attendants approved a new five-year labor contract with 31% average raises to base pay by August and other improvements, marking the last of the major carriers with unionized flight crews to reach a deal post-Covid.
The labor deal would give United’s roughly 30,000 flight attendants their first raises in close to six years. The company and the flight attendants’ union reached a preliminary deal in March. Crews had rejected a contract last year.
The union said the contract won 82% approval from the flight attendants, with close to 90% of them voting.
“The contract will immediately change the lives of United Flight Attendants, especially our thousands of new hires who have been hired since the pandemic,” said Ken Diaz, president of the United chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants.
The contract also includes boarding pay, or pay for when the aircraft’s door is open and travelers are getting on. Airlines had for years started flight attendants’ pay clock once the boarding door was closed.
The contract comes with a roughly 7% to 8% increase in compensation and $741 million in back pay, as well as quality-of-life improvements like restrictions on red-eye flights and “sit pay” during disruptions of more than 2½ hours.
Stocks struggled on Tuesday, although blue chips proved resilient, amid a triple whammy of domestic political strife, surging US inflation and a lack of progress in the Middle East.
The FTSE 100 closed down just 4.11 points at 10,265.32. The FTSE 250 ended down 341.66 points, 1.5%, at 22,466.20, and the AIM All-Share fell 11.75 points, 1.4%, at 810.66.
The pound fell to 1.3505 dollars on Tuesday afternoon from 1.3651 dollars on Monday. Against the euro, sterling was lower at 1.1517 euros from 1.1584 euros on Monday.
The yield on UK 10-year gilts traded at 5.10%, up from 5.01% the day before.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defied calls for him to quit, despite a growing number of Labour MPs demanding that he steps aside.
“The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered,” Sir Keir told ministers during crunch talks over his future, as no one person has stepped forward to challenge him yet.
“The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a Cabinet,” he added.
More than 80 of Labour’s 403 MPs have now called for Sir Keir to quit immediately, or to set out a timetable for his resignation, including some ministers.
Banks sold off, amid reports of a possible windfall tax on the sector should there be a change at the top of the Government.
“Banks narrowly avoided a higher tax rate at the last budget, but our base case now assumes the UK banking surcharge to increase from 3% to 5%,” said the banking team at JPMorgan.
NatWest fell 3.2%, Lloyds Banking Group dipped 4.4% and Barclays declined 3.6%.
Meanwhile, the surging bond yields weighed on interest rate-sensitive housebuilders, with Barratt Redrow down 4.1% and Taylor Wimpey 2.4% lower.
Adding to the uncertain mood was another spike in the oil price as the impasse in the Middle East carried on.
Iran’s chief negotiator said on Tuesday that Washington must accept Tehran’s latest peace plan or face failure, after US President Donald Trump warned a truce was on the brink of collapse.
“Relations between Washington and Tehran appear to be more strained than at any time since the original ceasefire was announced just over a month ago,” observed David Morrison at Trade Nation, suggesting that hostilities could “resume at any time”.
Brent crude for July delivery was trading at 108.07 dollars a barrel on Tuesday, up compared with 103.70 dollars at the time of the equities close in London on Monday.
In Europe on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 1.0%, and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt declined 1.6%.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5%, the S&P 500 fell 1.0% while the Nasdaq Composite was 1.7% lower.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury widened to 4.46% on Tuesday from 4.39% on Friday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury stretched to 5.02% from 4.97%.
The impact of the Iran war was reflected in soaring US inflation figures for April.
Annual CPI inflation sped up to 3.8% in April from 3.3% in March, above FXStreet-cited expectations of a 3.7% rise.
Monthly, energy costs were up 5.6% in April after a 21.3% jump in March.
Excluding food and energy costs, core CPI was up 2.8% year-on-year in April, up from 2.6% in March and higher than an expected 2.7%.
Analysts explained that much of the upside in core inflation came from a spike in shelter costs.
TD Economics said the numbers reinforce why the Fed needs to remain “patient”.
“Even assuming a ‘more normal’ reading on shelter prices last month, core inflation would’ve still firmed relative to March. With secondary price effects from higher energy prices likely to intensify in the months ahead, we’re likely to see core measures of inflation drift a bit higher and hover around 3% through year-end,” the broker said.
While Bank of America said the latest increase means inflation is getting “very uncomfortable” for the Fed.
Following the data, Fed futures now place a 60% probability of a rate hike by March next year.
The euro traded slightly lower against the greenback, at 1.1729 dollars on Tuesday from 1.1782 dollars on Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 157.73 yen, higher than 157.01 yen.
Back in London, Vodafone fell back 7.0% after mixed full-year results with adjusted earnings short of hopes but adjusted cash flow ahead.
“In the stock market it’s often said that it’s better to travel than arrive, hence why shares in Vodafone dipped on robust-looking full-year results after a strong rally in the past 12 months,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.
Vodafone shares have risen 60% in the last 12 months.
Intertek led the risers, up 6.4%, as it said it was “reviewing” the latest takeover proposal from suitor EQT Fund Management Sarl.
Intertek has turned down three previous approaches from EQT.
On the FTSE 250, Greggs rose 8.0% after reporting higher sales in the opening weeks of 2026 and maintaining full-year expectations.
But Wickes plunged 12% after reporting mixed trading as wet weather weighed on retail demand at the start of 2026.
Gold traded lower at 4,663.87 dollars an ounce on Tuesday, from 4,733.27 dollars on Monday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Intertek, up 320.00p at 5,300.00p, British American Tobacco, up 255.00p at 4,634.00p, Compass Group, up 1.74p at 31.93p, Imperial Brands, up 104.00p at 2,832.00p and London Stock Exchange Group, up 328.00p at 9,348.00p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Vodafone Group, down 8.45p at 111.95p, 3i Group, down 116.00p at 2,400.00p, St James’s Place, down 52.50p at 1,154.50p, Lloyds Banking Group, down 4.28p at 94.06p and Marks & Spencer, down 13.60p at 308.90p.
Wednesday’s global economic calendar has eurozone industrial production and GDP data, the King’s Speech in the UK and US PPI figures.
Wednesday’s local corporate calendar has a trading statement from Spirax Group.
Contributed by Alliance News
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