Six weeks after Britain doubled its Remote Gaming Duty from 21% to 40%, the immediate damage many feared had yet to materialise in public earnings.
Tier-one operators have sounded bruised but not broken. Entain struck a cautious tone. Evoke reiterated the seriousness of the change but suggested trading remained stable. Even as FDJ reported a sharp decline in UK revenue in April, the wider market reaction has been one of uneasy restraint rather than panic.
That, however, may be precisely the point.
The UK gambling industry is now entering what many executives, advisers and regulatory lawyers describe as the first phase of a much longer adjustment cycle.
