A proposal made by William Hill's managing director John Brown at the British Betting Office Association's Industry seminar this week could be an incentive to keep British betting dollars in England.
"There has to be--right now, not at some time in the distant future--a substantial cut in general betting duty and in the deduction to punters," he said in his speech before bookmakers and related industry members.
Brown's proposal is intended to shift tax liability from punters to bookmakers to remove incentives for UK residents to bet with offshore bookmakers. Last year saw U.K. bookmakers open operations in
Gibraltar, Aldernay and the Isle of Man in order to allow punters to bet with a lower duty.
The General Betting Duty is currently set at 6.75 percent in the U.K., while punters can use offshore bookmakers and pay much less. For example, Totalbet ads promote a 2 percent betting duty for online wagers.
Just last month, the BBOA agreed to press for a lowering of the GBD to five percent. According to
Brown, William Hill, along with trade organizations and the Bookmakers' Committee, believe the GBD should be dropped to 3 percent.
The BBOA Industry Seminar was held January 18th in London and featured industry experts, as well as Elliot Grant, who heads up the Liquor, Gambling and Data Protection unit of the Home Office. Grant will be advising government officials during the upcoming review of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act and the Horserace Betting Levy.