National statistics

UK Betting and Gaming Statistics commentary (April 2023 to September 2023)

Updated 31 October 2023

Released: 31 October 2023. Next Release: 30 April 2024.

1. Headlines

The latest headlines for the betting and gaming statistics are:

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 year-to-date (April to September) total for betting and gaming receipts is £1,677 million, which is £58 million (4%) higher than the same period during the previous financial year-to-date

• the majority of provisional 2023 to 2024 year-to-date (April to September) total betting and gaming receipts comes from Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) (29%) and Lottery Duty (28%)

• receipts in Machine Games Duty (MGD), Gaming duty, and Bingo duty for the second quarter of the financial year have stabilised in 2022 to 2023 compared to the same quarter in the previous year. This follows a period of lower receipts during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns and increases seen after those restrictions were removed and venues reopened. The receipts for these duties are now once again comparable to their values in the second quarter of 2019 to 2020

2. About this release

This publication provides statistics for:

• Bingo Duty
• Gaming Duty
• General Betting Duty (GBD)
• Lottery Duty
• Machine Games Duty (MGD)
• Pool Betting Duty (PBD)
• Remote Gaming Duty

New information includes receipts data for all duties from April 2023 to September 2023 and MGD liabilities data from March 2023 to August 2023, as well as minor revisions to some of the older data on MGD liabilities. Further details for each of the betting and gaming duties can be found within accompanying UK Betting and Gaming Statistics background and references and Historical UK Betting and Gaming duty rates.

3. Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Impacts from the coronavirus and public health measures in response are visible within changing trends to receipts collected for betting and gaming since April 2020. This was caused by a mixture of changes to payment timings, policies affecting businesses (such as lockdowns) and associated economic impacts.

4. Total betting and gaming receipts

Figure 1: Year-to-date UK betting and gaming receipts in the current and previous 3 financial years.

For the full dataset relating to Figure 1 see the UK Betting and Gaming Statistics tables which accompany this commentary.

Significant points about Figure 1 and the related data concerning total betting and gaming receipts:

• there is a quarterly cycle of repayments, where the three months in each quarter split into one or two with higher receipts, and the remainder having lower receipts

• the months in each quarter which have higher or lower receipts can change from year to year. For example, August saw higher receipts in 2022 to 2023 and lower receipts in 2023 to 2024

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 first quarter (April to June) total betting and gaming receipts is £867 million, which is £57 million (7%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 second quarter (July to September) total betting and gaming receipts is £811 million, which is £1.1 million (0.14%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

5. Betting duties receipts

There are 2 betting duties: GBD and PBD.

GBD is a duty charged on fixed-odds bets made with bookmakers in UK premises or remotely by UK persons, other than on-course betting.

PBD is charged on betting not at fixed-odds (for example, where winnings are determined by contributions made to a prize pool) in UK premises or by UK persons. Both are charged on money received for bets less money paid out for winnings.

Figure 2: General Betting Duty receipts in the current and previous 3 financial years.

For the full dataset relating to Figure 2 see the UK Betting and Gaming Statistics tables which accompany this commentary.

Significant points about Figure 2 and the related data concerning GBD receipts:

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 first quarter (April to June) GBD receipts is £176 million, which is £13 million (8%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 second quarter (July to September) GBD receipts is £167 million, which is £21 million (14%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• the totals of GBD receipts for each financial year showed a rising trend starting in 2019 to 2020 when the total was £586 million, until 2021 to 2022 when the total was £649 million. The total then decreased to £631 million in the year 2022 to 2023

• the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 to 2021 resulted in the slowdown of trade and closure of many gambling venues, and is likely to have led to slower growth

Figure 3: Pool Betting Duty receipts in the current and previous 3 financial years.

For the full dataset relating to Figure 3 see the UK Betting and Gaming Statistics tables which accompany this commentary.

Significant points about Figure 3 and the related data concerning PBD receipts:

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 first quarter (April to June) PBD receipts is £2.8 million, which is £0.6 million (30%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 second quarter (July to September) PBD receipts is £2.4 million, which is £0.2 million (10%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• PBD receipts decreased in each of the previous 3 financial years, from £9.5 million in 2020 to 2021 to £8.7 million in 2021 to 2022, and to £7.8 million in 2022 to 2023

• from the first quarter of 2021 to 2022 to the third quarter of 2022 to 2023 PBD receipts were quite uniform from quarter to quarter, in contrast to the more volatile profile during the rest of the period shown above

6. Lottery Duty receipts

Introduced in November 1994, Lottery Duty is a duty on taking a chance or ticket in a lottery that is promoted in the UK. It is paid by the promoter of the National Lottery. All other lawful lotteries are exempt.

The duty applies to lottery tickets and scratch-cards. Duty payable is based on stake money received from ticket sales. The duty rate of 12% has remained the same since its introduction in 1994.

Lottery Duty follows monthly accounting, meaning that periods can be 4 or 5 weeks while payment is due within 15 days after accounting periods.

Figure 4: Lottery Duty receipts in the current and previous 3 financial years.

For the full dataset relating to Figure 4 see the UK Betting and Gaming Statistics tables which accompany this commentary.

Significant points about Figure 4 and the related data concerning Lottery Duty receipts:

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 first quarter (April to June) Lottery Duty receipts is £240 million, which is £5 million (2%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 second quarter (July to September) Lottery Duty receipts is £228 million, which is £28 million (11%) lower than in the same period during the last financial year

• since the first quarter of 2021 to 2022, Lottery Duty receipts have been relatively stable having been fairly volatile over the two previous financial years, which was heavily impacted by coronavirus lockdowns

7. Gaming duties receipts

There are 4 duties on gaming.

• Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) which is charged on gaming providers’ profits from remote gaming with UK persons, remote gaming is defined as the playing of a game-of-chance for a prize by remote communication via any kind of electronic or other technology for facilitating communication

• Machine Gaming Duty (MGD) which is a duty of excise which is charged on ‘dutiable machine games’ played in the UK. A machine game is a game, whether of chance or skill, or both, played on a machine for a prize where at least one of the prizes that can be won is, or includes, cash to a value greater than the cost to play once

• Gaming Duty which is charged on premises (casinos), where ‘dutiable gaming’ takes place, such as roulette, poker and blackjack.

• Bingo Duty which is charged on the profits of bingo promoters’ from bingo played in the UK.

RGD and MGD follow quarterly accounting, with accounting periods set up on one of 3 ‘staggers’, with payment due within 1 month.

Figure 5: Gaming duties receipts in the current and previous 3 financial years.

For the full dataset relating to Figure 5 see the UK Betting and Gaming Statistics tables which accompany this commentary.

Significant points about Figure 5 and the related data concerning the 4 gaming duties’ receipts:

• RGD is by far the largest of the 4 gaming duties

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 first quarter (April to June) RGD receipts is £247 million, which is £28 million (13%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 second quarter (July to September) RGD receipts is £238 million, which is £4 million (2%) lower than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 first quarter (April to June) MGD receipts is £146 million, which is £17 million (13%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 second quarter (July to September) MGD receipts is £143 million, which is £5 million (3%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 first quarter (April to June) Gaming Duty receipts is £49 million, which is £7 million (12%) lower than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 second quarter (July to September) Gaming Duty receipts is £27 million, which is £7 million (38%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 first quarter (April to June) Bingo Duty is £5.8 million, which is £0.7 million (14%) higher than in the same period during the last financial year

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 second quarter (July to September) Bingo Duty receipts is £5.5 million, which is £0.3 million (5%) lower than in the same period during the last financial year

• receipts for all four duties are showing more stable behaviour following the COVID-19 period, although Gaming duty and Bingo duty have not recovered to their previous levels

8. Machine Games Duty liability breakdown

8.1 MGD rates

There are 3 rates of MGD:

• Lower rate of 5% applies to ‘Type 1’ machines
• Standard rate of 20% applies to ‘Type 2’ machines
• Higher rate of 25% applies to all other machines

Go to HMRC Excise Notice 452: Machine Games Duty for further MGD information.

8.2 Machine Games Duty declared liabilities

MGD is payable to HMRC in the month following the end of an accounting period. This results in a one month lag between the end of the accounting period and cash being received meaning the latest available complete data for MGD liabilities is one month behind that of receipts. MGD receipts data has been updated to September 2023 within this release and liabilities to August 2023.

8.3 Year to date liabilities

Provisional 2023 to 2024 year-to-date total liabilities and standard rate liabilities for MGD are as follows:

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 year-to-date (April to August) total for declared MGD liabilities is £189 million, which is £18 million (10%) higher than the same period during the previous financial year-to-date

• the provisional 2023 to 2024 year-to-date (April to August) standard rate MGD liabilities is £186 million, which is £18 million (11%) higher than the same period during the previous financial year-to-date

Figure 6: Year-to-date MGD liabilities by duty rate in the current and previous 4 financial years.

For the full dataset relating to Figure 6 see the UK Betting and Gaming Statistics tables which accompany this commentary.

Significant points about Figure 6 and the related data concerning MGD liabilities:

• in the financial year 2019 to 2020, standard rate became the largest contributor to MGD liabilities, this is due to policy changes from April 2019 which reduced maximum stakes for fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs)

• higher rate liabilities have decreased in recent years since the FOBTs policy changes. The last quarter in which they contributed significantly was the first quarter of 2019 to 2020, where the receipts were £31 million

• increases in MGD liabilities in the second quarter of 2021 to 2022 are likely to reflect betting venues opening up having been closed during coronavirus lockdowns, since which time the liabilities have been stable close to their values in the 2019 to 2020 financial year

9. Contacts

The UK Betting and Gaming Statistics publication is produced by the Indirect Tax Receipts Monitoring team as part of the Excise duties, VAT, and other tax statistics collection.

For statistical enquiries, contact:

revenuemonitoring@hmrc.gov.uk

For media enquiries, see HMRC press office.