Gambling lobbyists are staging a summer charm offensive designed to stop ministers from raising taxes on the sector, the Guardian has learned, including meeting with Treasury insiders and hosting a darts evening with Labour special advisers and MPs’ staff.
The Treasury is considering whether to simplify the various rates of duty applied to gambling products, a measure that the £11.5bn-a-year [$15.3bn] sector fears would increase its overall tax bill.
The Betting & Gaming Council (BGC), whose members include high street bookmakers and online casinos, is understood to have outlined its objections in a submission to the Treasury, based on a report written for the trade body by the accounting firm EY.
