Genting Casinos has announced that it has taken the decision to close down its land-based venue in Coventry.
As the main reasoning, the company pointed to “commercial pressures facing the land-based casino sector”, which has led to the Coventry establishment – opened in 2012 and staffing 51 people – being deemed “no longer commercially viable to sustain trading”.
“In recent years, casinos have absorbed substantial increases in employment costs, business rates, energy costs and regulatory compliance expenditure, alongside increases in gaming taxation,” Genting added.
“These cumulative pressures have significantly reduced margins across the sector and are making it increasingly difficult for highly regulated venues to remain commercially sustainable.
“This closure demonstrates the real-world consequences of a business environment in which costs continue to rise, while taxation places increasing pressure on commercial viability.”
Worries intensify about increase in Machine Gaming Duty
Genting Casinos also made a mention of the possibility that the UK will see an increase in Machine Gaming Duty (MGD) when Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey, presents his first Budget on 28 October.
Talks about a potential doubling of MGD (from the lower rate of 5% to 10%, the standard rate of 20% to 40%, and the higher rate of 25% to 50%) have been intensifying over the last few weeks in the lead-up to the Budget, in part caused by calls coming from think tank Social Market Foundation.
Gordon Brown, ex-UK Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010, has also been a vocal supporter of the idea to increase MGD rates as means to fuel the national economy.
The UK gambling sector was already subjected to significant duty increases in last year’s Budget, when then-Chancellor Rachel Reeves brought the Remote Gaming Duty up from 21% to 40%, and announced a further increase in General Betting Duty from 15% to 25% starting April 2027.
Industry leaders have continuously warned that if more financial pressures are to be introduced, it will lead to a wide-spread wave of job losses and betting shop closures, with some operators already considering or in the process of sizing down their real estate.
Fred Done, Founder of Betfred, went as far as predicting that high-street betting “will become extinct by 2030”.
Genting Casinos has now joined the calls for policymakers to carefully consider the impact of an increase in MGD, adding: “Any increase in Machine Games Duty will force the closure of multiple venues across the country, resulting in the loss of hundreds of skilled jobs and reducing economic activity in towns and cities where casinos form part of the leisure, hospitality and night-time economy.
“Such closures would also reduce investment in local communities, diminish consumer choice and ultimately reduce tax revenues from a sector that already makes a significant contribution to the UK economy.”
Genting also alluded to organised crime becoming more prominent, with the vacuum left from pressures on the regulated gambling sector being filled by illegal high street casinos.