The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has congratulated Andrew Griffith on his appointment as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and Rebecca Paul on hers as Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the two Conservative frontbench posts that shape opposition policy on gambling tax and gambling regulation.
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch reshuffled her top team at the start of the new parliamentary session, following the summer recess. Paul, the MP for Reigate, takes the culture brief from Nigel Huddleston.
The two briefs that set gambling policy
The division of responsibility matters to operators. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) holds gambling regulation: the Gambling Commission’s remit, licence conditions, online slot stake limits and the statutory levy on operators that took effect in April 2025. The Treasury sets the duty rates.
The Treasury brief is where the numbers have moved. At the Autumn Budget 2025, the government raised remote gaming duty from 21% to 40% with effect from April 2026, and set a separate rate of 25% on remote betting profits from April 2027, up from the 15% general betting duty. The remote betting increase excludes horse racing bets, spread betting, pool bets and self-service betting terminals. Bingo duty, previously 10%, was abolished, and casino gaming duty bands were frozen for 2026-27.
The government expects gambling tax receipts of £4 billion in 2025-26 and £5 billion in 2026-27, rising to an additional £1.1 billion a year by 2029-30. Entain has estimated the new gambling taxes will add around £200 million to its annual costs.
Retail estates are under separate pressure. Flutter Entertainment is reviewing the closure of up to 100 Paddy Power shops.
Griffith inherits the opposition’s response to all of it, at a point where the first of the two duty rises is already being paid.
What the BGC said
The trade body, led by chief executive Grainne Hurst, said it:
“looks forward to working constructively with them both and continuing to make the case for a strong, well-regulated betting and gaming sector which brings enjoyment to millions of people, sustains 109,000 jobs, contributes billions of pounds to the economy and provides vital funding for some of Britain’s best-loved sports.”
The BGC represents the majority of the licensed British market, including online operators, betting shops, casinos and bingo halls. Its 109,000 jobs figure covers the sector across retail and online.
Huddleston leaves the culture brief
The BGC thanked Huddleston for his “work with the sector” and for the:
“open and constructive relationship he maintained with the BGC throughout his time in the role.”
Huddleston knows the file from both sides of the House. He was the DCMS minister responsible for gambling between 2020 and 2022, the period in which the government launched its review of the Gambling Act 2005, the review that produced the 2023 white paper and the measures now in force, including the statutory levy and online stake limits.
Paul takes over a brief where most of the white paper’s measures have already been implemented, which changes the job. The open questions are enforcement, affordability checks and how the regulator handles the licensed market as tax costs rise.
The black market argument
The BGC’s case to both new appointees is built on unlicensed competition. Last week the trade body estimated that the illegal black market could take up to £800 million in bets across the new English Premier League season.
That figure is the argument the sector will put to Griffith in particular: that duty rates above a certain level push customers to unlicensed sites that pay no tax, fund no sport and apply no player protections. Campaigners for tighter regulation dispute the size of the black market and the causal link, and the Gambling Commission has previously questioned industry estimates of its scale.
What happens next
The 40% remote gaming duty rate is already in force. The 25% remote betting rate is not, and the run-up to April 2027 gives the opposition a live position to take on a tax the sector says it cannot absorb. Neither Griffith nor Paul has set out a line on gambling duty since taking up their posts.
Source: Betting and Gaming Council
