Budget Announcement for Bingo

The bingo industry is on tenterhooks this morning whilst they wait for the new budget to be announced, with much speculation as to how it will affect them.

It is expected that there will be an increase in National Contributions and VAT, which will have a knock-on affect in other areas as this will lead to a general rise in costs. Hopefully gaming duty will not increase, so at least the impact of tax increases on the bingo industry will be on par with other industries.

Due to the present economic situation the Government needs to raise revenue, so tax cuts are not expected. Some people in the gaming industry believe this could be the time when gaming duty is levelled throughout the industry, and Gross Profits Tax raised to 20% for everyone, including bookmakers.

It is also feared that an increase in VAT could cause problems for the larger bingo clubs, particularly those that rent or lease their properties. As a large proportion of the income does not attract VAT, and the machine income is affected by GPT instead of VAT, the recoverable VAT from premises will drastically reduce, whilst the amount paid on top will increase.

On the other hand online bingo companies which offer their games to customers from off shore will probably not see any changes that will affect their revenue streams. However, the amount of taxation that is presently lost abroad has been noted by the Government, and new legislation to increase the tax burden on off shore online gaming companies is expected shortly. Instead of offering incentives to operators who operate in the UK it is a distinct possibility that off shore companies will face financial penalties instead.

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