UK operator landscape reshaped since RGD hike as retail contracts and jobs fall

Eleven months after then-Chancellor Rachel Reeves used her Autumn Budget to announce a near-doubling of remote gaming duty (RGD), the UK gambling sector is visibly changing. The new RGD rate — raised from 21% to 40% — came into effect on 1 April this year, and operators have responded with shop closures, restructures and job cuts while larger groups position to win share. New Chancellor John Healey is due to deliver his first Budget on Wednesday, when a rise in machine games duty (MGD) is widely expected.

The tax changes and immediate numbers

Reeves’ Budget raised remote gaming duty from 21% to 40%, effective 1 April 2026. The Budget also introduced a new general betting duty rate for remote betting of 25%, up from 15%, which will come into effect in April 2027. Responding to the November announcement, Betting and Gaming Council CEO Grainne Hurst described the tax increases as “excessive” and warned they could prove to be a “devastating hammer blow” to the UK sector.

Gambling Commission data covering the year before the new rate took effect shows that as of 31 March 2026 there were 2,154 licensed gambling operators in the market, a 1.1% decrease compared to the same point in 2025. That decline follows annual falls between 2017 and 2025, and the latest drop was smaller than prior reductions. Total gross gambling yield (GGY) rose 4.4% to £17.5 billion, while remote casino, betting and bingo activity increased 6.9%.

Operators’ responses: closures, cuts and restructures

Several major operators have announced significant cost-saving actions since the RGD increase. Flutter disclosed a UK and Ireland business restructure last week that could lead to up to 1,400 job cuts. Evoke closed around 200 William Hill shops earlier this year. Betfred announced plans to close up to 132 stores and slash its workforce by over 600 employees. Bet365 revealed plans last month to cut around 340 jobs.

Those moves have concentrated much of the adjustment in retail. The total number of gambling premises in Great Britain dropped 2% to 8,081 between April 2025 and March 2026. Retail GGY fell 3.3% to £2.4 billion in the same period. Given the wave of shop closure announcements since March, those figures could look worse in the Gambling Commission’s next annual report.

"These increases were excessive and could prove to be a devastating hammer blow to the UK sector," Grainne Hurst, CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council, said in response to last November's announcement.

Machine games duty and Wednesday’s Budget risk

Machine games duty is currently set at 20%. A group of Labour MPs has urged Chancellor John Healey to increase MGD ahead of his Budget. The Social Market Foundation has pushed for a doubling to 40%, though industry commentary has allowed that any rise could be as small as 5%. Operators fear sizeable increases.

Jenningsbet CEO and owner Greg Knight told The Times that a doubling in MGD could lead to the closure of "100 shops". Betfred owner Fred Done warned in the Financial Times that a sharp rise could put retail betting out of business and said:

"I believe that by 2030 we will have no betting shops"

The Betting and Gaming Council highlighted modelling from EY that estimated a rise in MGD to 40% could lead to the loss of nearly 1,500 betting shops, 34 casinos and 16,000 jobs.

Who looks better placed: scale and agility

Public results and executive commentary suggest larger, diversified operators are better placed to absorb higher taxation and take share. Entain’s Q3 results showed UK and Ireland online net gaming revenue (NGR) rising 14% year-on-year. Entain CEO Stella David said the company would be a “relative winner” and that it would gain market share in retail.

Flutter executives have also framed scale as an advantage. In announcing the potential 1,400 job cuts, Flutter’s UK and Ireland CEO Kevin Harrington said the business remained confident it was well placed to benefit from share gains “given our position as the largest scale operator in the UK.” Richard Clarke, managing director at Flutter-owned brands Paddy Power and Betfair, told iGB: “We’re a big business, and there are things we can do with one or two million that give us an advantage. We’d expect to take market share as a result of the squeeze.”

H2 Gambling Capital Managing Director Ed Birkin told iGB that the full impact of the RGD increase has yet to materialise. “I don't think it's having a material impact yet,” he said of the effect on gross gaming revenue (GGR). Birkin added that while scale will matter, agility will be important too and smaller operators could be disproportionately affected.

The near-term outlook

Eleven months on from Rachel Reeves’ Budget, the industry is still adjusting to one tax shock. On Wednesday it faces another Budget that is widely expected to raise MGD. The combination of an elevated RGD rate, a planned new remote betting duty rate taking effect in April 2027, and a likely MGD rise means operators are managing consolidation, retail contraction and workforce reductions while larger groups position to acquire share.

Industry commentary forecasts continued turbulence for retail and potential further job losses, while public financial results indicate online operations are growing and that larger operators are currently best placed to absorb additional tax headwinds. The sector will learn the size of the next shock when Chancellor John Healey publishes his Budget on Wednesday.