INTERNET TAX CUT CALLED FOR BY WILL HILL CEO

8 August 2008

"This business has to be allowed some room to grow," says gambling exec


The chief executive of UK land and online gambling group William Hill plc has called upon the UK government to cut the 15 percent Internet gambling tax paid by UK licensed bookies and cautioned against measures against fixed odds betting terminals, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Describing the UK government's gambling policy as ‘flip-flopping,’ CEO Ralph Topping commented: "We paid GBP267 million in taxes last year plus GBP 30 million in levies to the horseracing and greyhound industries and employ 14 000 people. This business has to be allowed some room to grow. What I am saying to the Government is, please think things through from all angles."

Topping said a 15 percent gross profits tax on Internet gambling was not appropriate, and argued that it made UK-based bookmakers uncompetitive against offshore rivals.

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