Gambling tax raid will cost thousands of jobs in Britain’s bingo halls and casinos, Rachel Reeves warned

Higher gambling taxes will lead to the closure of bingo halls and casinos across the country and the loss of thousands of jobs, according to one of Britain’s leading operators.

John O’Reilly, the chief executive of Rank Group, said he could be forced to close a third of the firm’s Grosvenor Casinos and a higher proportion of Mecca bingo clubs if the Chancellor launches a raid on the industry.

This would result in the loss of 2,500 jobs – or nearly a third of its 7,800-strong workforce.

Writing on the Daily Mail website, O’Reilly hit out at ‘snobbery and ill-informed posturing’ surrounding gambling, and added that the company already pays ‘a lorry load of tax revenues for the Exchequer’.

Industry sources have suggested closures across the sector would most likely come in working class areas – including those being targeted by Reform.

Rachel Reeves is expected to hit gambling firms with higher taxes in the Budget on November 26 as she seeks to raise revenues to fund her lavish spending plans.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has joined more than 100 Labour MPs in calling for an increase in gambling taxes.

And in an ominous sign for the industry, the Chancellor recently warned: ‘I do think there is a case for gambling firms paying more. They should pay their fair share of taxes and we will make sure that happens.’

The prospect of a punishing tax raid is causing alarm across the industry – including at London-listed Rank, which is part of the FTSE 250 and has 50 casinos and 50 bingo clubs in the UK.

O’Reilly warned higher taxes ‘will bring Rank’s nationwide investment to a shuddering halt, with closures and job losses along the way’.

He said: ‘For too long, snobbery and ill-informed posturing have been allowed to permeate the discussion around the gambling industry, leading to a hopelessly misguided idea that gambling is somehow an easy hit for tax increases. It is not. It would slam the brakes on the £60m of investment that Rank has planned for towns and cities across Britain.’

O’Reilly highlighted suggestions that the duty on slot machines could be raised, warning that an increase in the so-called ‘machine gaming levy’ from 20pc to 25pc ‘would likely see us having to shut a third of our casinos and an even higher proportion of our bingo clubs’.

That could see 15 to 20 Grosvenor sites close and around 20 Mecca bingo halls – costing some 2,500 jobs.

‘It is senseless,’ said O’Reilly. ‘Those who annually clamour for gambling firms to pay more in tax can often scarcely disguise their underlying disdain for gambling. Perhaps, deep down, they just don’t like what we do and they’re perfectly entitled to that position, of course.

‘But in their haste to impose crippling tax rises on the regulated sector, they play straight into the hands of illegal operators who will be watching the Budget with breathless anticipation. If the Chancellor raises gambling taxes, the rounds of applause will come from those illegal operators who pay no tax.’

He pointed out that the average spent on slot machines at its bingo clubs is just £13 per customer per visit.

‘And yet, increasing taxes on these machines will lead to the closure of much-loved bingo clubs that are often the beating heart of local communities,’ said O’Reilly. ‘Britain should be proud of our bingo clubs, not looking to tax them into extinction.’

O’Reilly urged the Chancellor to foster a ‘pro-business environment’ rather than ‘a doom-loop of club closures and job losses’.