Open	39
Closed	20

Brit Government Pulls Back From Freebie Gambling Tax

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Apr 28, 2017

Proposal to tax free plays and bonuses removed from Finance Bill 2017

A proposal by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs late last year to impose a tax on free plays, discounts and bonuses offered by gambling companies (see previous InfoPowa reports) has been pulled from the current Finance Bill 2017, giving a little relief to operators.

That relief may be short-lived – a government announcement revealed that the proposal had been withdrawn because there was insufficient time to give it the required scrutiny before parliament dissolves on May 3 due to the impending snap general election.

Once the political dust has settled, and assuming that the Conservatives return to power following voting on June 8, it is likely that the proposals will be reinserted in a reinvigorated bill.

Major operators have been bracing themselves for multi-million pound annual tax hits under the proposal.

Brian Cullingworth

Infopowa news was a staple of Casinomeister’s news from 2000 until 2019. Brian Cullingworth was the main writer, contributor, and was one of the most knowledgeable persons I have ever known involved in the online casino industry.

We first met in January 2001 at the ICE in London where I observed him going booth to booth interviewing online casino, software, and licensing jurisdiction representatives. Brian was also heavily involved with our forum as “Jetset“, he was involved as an informal consultant to eCOGRA, the OPA, and was a player advocate who assisted countless aggrieved players with his connections to industry folks. He also published “Casino Cautions” via Infopowa news for quite a number of years. These can be found in our news archives.

His passing in February 2019 was a dark day for us. He will be forever missed.