Cut in Bingo duty
Levy on takings at bingo clubs drops 2%, a help for an industry hit by recession and the smoking ban. Britain’s gaming industry welcomes this cut which is included in the pre-budget report.
Rank Group said the change should boost their operating profits by £2.5m a year. However, they also said the reduction should have been larger.
Chief executive of Rank, Ian Burke stated, “Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction. However, it is still not clear why Britain’s bingo clubs should be subject to a higher tax rate than that applied to other forms of gaming and betting.”
The duty levied on takings at a licensed bingo club, according to Alistair Darling, will drop from 22% to 20% from next year’s budget. This should help an industry which has been hit in recent years by the smoking ban as well as the recession.
Prior to the 2009 budget, the bingo levy was 15%, which is still the levy for football pools, wagers in a betting shop and bingo played online.
The Bingo Association protested the earlier increase to 22% and stated, “the fight continues to get bingo back to the 15% rate.”
The cut in duty was cheered by the PBR, however, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable stated it was “A good budget for bingo and boilers, but not much else.”
Shares in Ranks was up nearly 3% this afternoon.