Britain’s regulated betting sector is under continued financial strain from rising taxes and operating costs, and further increases will lead to more shop closures, job losses and reduced investment, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has warned.
More than 540 high-street betting shops have closed since last year’s Budget, with roughly 4,500 jobs lost in that time, according to the BGC. This adds to a longer decline: since 2019, around 3,000 shops have closed and more than 15,000 jobs have gone, cutting shop numbers by over a third.
The organization said these numbers show that claims of unchecked expansion by betting shops do not hold up, and it pushed back against grouping licensed, regulated operators together with illegal gambling businesses outside the regulated market.
Grainne Hurst, Chief Executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, said: “The numbers speak for themselves. The BGC repeatedly warned the previous Chancellor that further tax increases would cost jobs, close businesses and damage growth.
“Since the Budget, betting operators have announced the closure of 540 high-street shops, with around 4,500 jobs lost. Betfred‘s decision to close 132 shops, putting more than 600 jobs at risk, is the latest evidence of the pressure now facing the sector.”
Last month, the Treasury rejected the idea that government policy was behind the closures, stating that gambling duty rates for high-street shops have not changed.
The BGC responded that this position overlooks how betting companies actually operate, along with warnings the industry has issued repeatedly.
Major operators manage retail and online arms as a single business, the council said, so tax and regulatory cost increases on one side inevitably influence investment decisions on the other, including the future of high-street shops and staff.
“The unprecedented doubling of online gaming duty is already hammering betting businesses. The Treasury may pretend these tax rises only hit online gambling, but that is simply not how the industry works,” Hurst added. “Betting companies run their shops and online businesses together, so when costs are driven up in one part of the business, jobs, investment and high-street shops suffer across the rest.”
“And worse is still to come. The forthcoming increase in online sports betting duty will pile even more pressure on operators, threatening jobs and investment while taking vital funding and sponsorship away from British sport.”
The shops that remain still support about 37,500 jobs across Britain and draw footfall for neighboring businesses, forming an established part of many local high streets and communities, the BGC said.
“Betting shops are an integral part of Britain’s high streets. The real threat is more empty units and fewer local jobs,” Hurst warned. “Heaping further pressure on these highly regulated businesses will only result in even more closures, more job losses, less investment and less money for sport.”
“These are the real-world consequences of the previous Chancellor’s damaging tax rises. They are bad for jobs, bad for high streets and bad for sport – and they hand a huge advantage to the unsafe, unregulated gambling black market.”
The association said that betting shops sit within a wider regulated betting and gaming industry that supports 109,000 jobs, contributes £6.8 billion ($9.1 billion) in gross value added and generates more than £4 billion ($5.4 billion) a year in tax revenue for the Exchequer.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/08/13/125873-bgc-warns-rising-taxes-are-driving-closures-across-britain-39s-betting-shops
