Taxation of gambling in the UK

Gambling duties

Different forms of gambling are subject to different duties under English law. There are essentially seven types of gambling duty in force from 1 December 2014, when the UK tax treatment of gambling underwent a significant change under part three of the Finance Act 2014. These are:

•
general betting duty
•
pool betting duty
•
gaming duty
•
remote gaming duty
•
machine games duty
•
bingo duty, and
•
lottery duty

All of the duties have the same general structure—being a tax on the net profits derived by the operator of the gambling facilities from gambling. 'Net profits' in this context is not a defined term (it is referred to differently in respect of each of the duties). Essentially, however, it means that the tax is levied as a percentage of the net amount received by the operator (being the stakes that have

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