A letter signed by 90 Labour MPs asks Chancellor John Healey to raise Machine Games Duty (MGD) on Category B gaming machines to 40% in this month’s Autumn Budget. SBC News reported the letter on 16 October 2026. Three days later it reported the Betting and Gaming Council’s (BGC) reply, which rejected the plan.
MGD is the tax on gaming machines in physical venues. Category B machines are the slot-style cabinets found in betting shops, bingo halls and adult gaming centres, so this is mainly a question about high street machines rather than online slots.
What the letter asks for
The letter was written by Alex Ballinger, the Labour MP. According to SBC News, it asks for a higher rate on Category B machines only, and singles out B3 machines. The letter describes these as allowing rapid play at stakes of up to £2, with prizes of £500.
Ballinger’s main target is adult gaming centres. The letter says 47% of them sit in the most deprived fifth of the country. It also cites Gambling Commission evidence, gathered in an earlier government review of B3 machines, that players of high-stake, high-prize machines are among the groups most likely to contact gambling help services.
The letter would leave some things alone:
- Pub fruit machines would not pay any more duty.
- Bingo games themselves would stay duty-free. The higher rate would only fall on the machines in bingo halls.
- Lower-category machines would keep their current treatment.
On revenue, the letter cites research from the Social Market Foundation estimating that the change could raise between £275m and £458m a year. SBC News points out that this figure would probably fall if betting shops closed in response.
The industry’s response
Grainne Hurst, chief executive of the BGC, answered on 17 October. SBC News quotes her saying it is “deeply misguided to suggest that higher taxes on betting shops and casinos” would protect communities and high streets.
Hurst said more than 600 betting shops have closed or announced closures since last year’s Autumn Budget announced rises to Remote Gaming Duty and General Betting Duty. She also cited modelling by Ernst & Young, which the BGC says shows that a 40% MGD rate could close another 1,500 shops and 34 casinos and cost up to 16,000 jobs. The same modelling says the Treasury could end up as much as £124m worse off.
Bacta, the trade body for amusement arcades and low-stake gaming, also warned the Chancellor against raising MGD. It linked its warning to VisitEngland’s campaign to bring more holidaymakers to the coast.
A wider campaign on both sides
SBC News describes the letter as the first open challenge to an industry lobbying campaign that has grown over recent weeks. Earlier in the week, Entain, Flutter UK and Ireland, bet365, Bally’s Corporation, evoke and Betfred co-signed a BGC letter. It asked the Chancellor to rule out an MGD rise and to pause the coming increase to General Betting Duty.
The MPs are not united either. SBC News notes that Carolyn Harris, the former chair of the Gambling-Related Harms All-Party Parliamentary Group, did not sign Ballinger’s letter. Several other members of that group did.
What happens next
No decision has been announced. The Budget is where any change to MGD would be confirmed. On 19 October SBC News said the Budget was nine days away, and that it was unclear whether the industry’s campaign would head off a rise.
For SlotSpecs readers, the letter only covers machines in venues. Online slots, including the demos in our catalogue, are taxed separately under Remote Gaming Duty and are not part of this proposal. We will report what the Budget confirms once it is published.