Latest UKGC News: UK Gambling Taxes Reach £ 1.62B + LEBOM Suspension

UK gambling taxes reach an astounding £ 1.62B – we break down each gambling vertical + news on the latest UKGC licence suspension! (Image from Nataliya Vaitkevich on pexels.com)

Gambling in the UK has become big business with a staggering £ 1.62 billion in tax revenue over the past six months. While taxation from gambling is looking promising for the country, some bad news for gambling operator LEBOM after the UKGC announced its licence has been suspended.

UK Gambling Taxes Over H1 2022 Increase 11% Year on Year

Tax in the UK certainly isn’t cheap, and when you see figures into the billions, it is easy to see why. Year-on-year taxes from gambling operations in the United Kingdom have risen from £1.46 billion in H1 2021 to a staggering £ 1.62 billion in H1 2022.

The UK gambling taxes were first reported by the UKGC responsible for overseeing the operations of all the casinos listed on the Live Casino Central UK online casino portal covering live casino in the United Kingdom. Tax sources include online gambling from eSports, sports betting, and iGaming sectors. They also include land-based casinos and retail betting shops as well as the National Lottery. HM Revenue and Customs, which is the UK’s tax authority also confirmed the figures.

In H1, lottery products contributed £ 497 million to the tax tally, while online gaming contributed £501 million. The largest growth in taxes came via land-based gaming operators who paid £267 million. Now that figure may not be as much as lottery and online gambling, but in terms of year-on-year growth, it represents a 151% increase from last year’s Covid-struck figures of £106 million.

As for land-based casinos, £ 76 million in tax came from this sector, but this is still below pre-covid figures and there is surprisingly no impressive growth in tax payments to report. Next, fixed odds and pool betting companies contributed £ 313 million. However, last year this figure was 6% higher. And finally, the HM Revenue Services collected a total of £ 309 million from ‘General Betting Duties’ on sports betting.

Let’s do the math: Lottery (£ 497m) + Online Gambling (£ 501m) + Land-based gaming operators (£ 267m) + Land-based Casinos (£ 76m), Fixed odds and pool betting (£ 313m) + ‘General Betting Duties’ on sports betting (£ 309m) = £ 1.963 billion according to the figures rounded up by the UKGC – close enough!

UKGC Suspends LEBOM for Failing to Integrate Gamstop

The Gambling Commission (UKGC) has suspended the licence of online gambling operator LEBOM Limited, due to its failure to integrate Gamstop, a self-exclusion scheme for players who may be suffering from gambling problems. Gamstop’s self-exclusion scheme enables users to block themselves from gambling platforms.

Licence suspension does not prevent players from accessing their accounts or withdrawing their funds from the lebom.app platform. As per the UKGC framework’s rules, all players must still have access and the choice to withdraw funds. However, it does mean that LEBOM must investigate the issue and review its operations.

UKGC Executive Director Kay Roberts has highlighted the importance of GAMSTOP as a self-exclusion tool for people who cannot control their gambling. She believes that online gambling companies that fail to integrate GAMSTOP are failing to protect the local community and their consumers.

No Nonsense UKGC Gambling Authority

It is clear that the UKGC will take action if the licensee fails to comply with its licensing conditions or becomes unfit to carry on the licensed activities.

A number of UK-licensed online operators have been hit by the UKGC’s actions in recent months. The UKGC has also fined UK-licensed operator Caesars Entertainment a record £ 13 million back in April 2020 for violating the commission’s rules. Since then, the company has in fact exited the UK market selling off eleven land-based casinos and its William Hill betting retail stores acquired in take over deal. The same sell-off saw 888 Holdings acquire William Hill live casino online, online betting and casino products, which also includes Mr Green Casino, in a reverse takeover.

The UKGC also sanctioned Smarkets in August this year for failing to comply with anti-money laundering rules. It allowed a player to deposit £ 395,000 without the proper checks over a period of 4 months. In addition to the £ 630,000 fine, Smarkets also faced regulatory backlash from the UKGC, which forced it to undergo an independent audit.

In October the UKGC also dished out multiple fines. NSUS Limited) and Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited have to pay fines of £ 672,000 and £ 2.87 million, respectively. Both for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures. Betway also took a £ 400,000 hit as its ads appeared on children’s websites.

Is there a fine for LEBOM? On the official UKGC news report, there is no mention of a fine. That being said, the UKGC will likely issue a fine at a later date.