Evoke has been among the British gambling majors to caution the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, not to rush into any decisions that could undermine the industry’s operational sustainability.
Notably, there have been rumors about a looming tax hike that would be used to advance societal causes, prop up the ailing public purse, and help the government appear more tough on the gambling industry.
Evoke could be looking at shutting down betting shops due to a rumored gambling tax hike
Yet, there are serious ramifications behind this decision, cautions Evoke, which owns the William Hill brand. Should a tax hike go through, the company reckons that it would need to shutter 200 betting shops, along with cutting up to 1,500 jobs.
In other words, William Hill’s betting shops will be reduced by 9% to 15%, with 10 people usually manning a shop. Evoke has confirmed that it may need to enact "difficult decisions." In a statement, the company said:
"We are mindful of potential tax increases in the forthcoming budget, which would impact investment in the UK and drive more customers to the black market.
As part of our ongoing planning, we are assessing the potential impact of different overall tax scenarios on our UK operations. This includes the difficult but necessary consideration for shop closures."
Yet, Evoke is hardly the only company to worry about such closers, as Entain’s boss, Stella David, has already confirmed that raising taxes would force the company to consider shuttering betting shops of its own, as one of the proposed measures to deal with a sudden increase in the tax amount.
Streamlining taxation while raising funds for societal causes
As to Reeves, she has remained fairly non-committal on the matter, although the Treasury has said that it is looking to explore ways to standardize the gambling tax rate, more so than to raise taxes per se.
Critics of the measure have said that taxing all parts of the gambling industry under the same levy would significantly reduce the competitiveness of certain verticals, which could push more people offshore.
Yet, the prospect of raising taxes on gambling is tempting as it could generate £3.2bn and potentially take 500,000 children out of poverty, as per the Institute for Public Policy Research comments.
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