Labor is about to announce a £100 million levy on gambling companies

Casinos and bookmakers in Britain will be forced to pay a £100 million a year levy to fund research, education and treatment of gambling harms, under government plans to be announced as soon as possible this week.

It is believed that Labor is on the verge of abandoning the previous government’s proposal to abolish a voluntary system, where industry players can choose how much they want to donate to tackle the harm caused by gambling and which organizations should receive the money.

The levy, which multiple sources said could be announced by gambling minister Baroness Twycross on Wednesday, is expected to come into effect from April next year, the Guardian understands.

Under the terms of the “statutory charge”, gambling companies will be told to pay 1% of their gross gambling revenue – what they win from UK gamblers – to support research, education and treatment causes.

Based on figures from the Gambling Commission, which showed the industry has won £10.9 billion from gamblers in Britain in the last 12 months, this would generate £109 million.

However, a consultation on the proposalpublished last year, provided a lower rate of 0.4% for land-based operators that have higher costs, such as major bookmakers and casinos. The consultation also found that companies with gambling revenues of less than £500,000 would be excluded.

Iain Duncan Smith, chairman of a parliamentary group (APPG) made up of MPs investigating gambling harms, said: “I am pleased that the statutory charge, which the APPG first proposed five years ago, is finally being introduced.

“For the first time, the gambling industry will be mandated to pay for the damage they cause. While there is much more to do, this is a seismic moment and a huge step forward, and I welcome it without reservation.”

Recipients of the money raised are expected to include a fleet of new specialist NHS addiction clinics, as well as a range of small charities providing services such as education in schools and counseling for people affected by gambling-related suicide.

A point of contention could be how much of the funding for gambling-related harm prevention is channeled to Britain’s largest gambling charity, GambleAware. Under the current voluntary system, the charity is the largest on a list of approved recipients of industry money. Between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, she received almost £50 million in donations and pledges.

Sources familiar with the plans said the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) was competing with GambleAware to be the government’s preferred destination for funds raised under a statutory levy.

The gambling minister, Baroness Twycross, will speak at GambleAware’s annual conference in December, a commitment that could prove strained if the government excludes the charity from official funding channels.

The industry lobby, the Betting & Gaming Council, said it would support a statutory levy as the policy was named among proposals in a white paper published by the Conservative government in April 2023.

The lobby group appears to have changed its mind as political support for the measure continues to grow. The former chairman of the BGC, Brigid Simmonds, wrote in 2022 that imposing a levy on the industry would be a “backward step” that would have no impact on gambling-related harm.

On Monday, a spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council said: “The BGC has previously proposed a mandatory levy and we welcomed the government’s announcement for a new payment system with continued independence from the allocation of funding.

“The BGC remains concerned that there should be a sliding scale for land-based businesses that have much higher fixed costs such as staff and buildings, and that funding for long-standing, expert providers of research, prevention and treatment services in the third sector is protected.”

The Ministry of Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment.