Firms accused of fear tactics
The UK’s leading sportsbook operators have come under fire for allegedly using fear of the black market to rally against potential tax hikes.
Executives at Flutter subsidiary Paddy Power, Entain sub-brand Ladbrokes, and William Hill parent Evoke have all recently claimed the UK government’s proposed tax hike in the Autumn Budget will force bettors to use unregulated sites and deprive His Majesty’s Treasury of money.
scorned the black market angle
The founder and former longtime CEO of Paddy Power Stewart Kenny has scorned the black market angle of the execs’ argument. On Monday, the Financial Times cited Kenny as confessing to using the unregulated offshore market claim during his time as Paddy Power’s chief exec. Kenny added, however, that claims that the black market is losing government money aren’t true.
Candid Kenny
Kenny went as far as expressing embarrassment over using the black market argument: “We knew it was way exaggerated, but it is the perfect way of saying ‘the government will lose money’ – but in fact it won’t.”
Kenny’s comments come on the back of the FT on Monday citing the execs of Paddy Power, William Hill, and Ladbrokes rallying against the calls for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to raise gambling taxes.
Paddy Power CEO Peter Jackson said: “….it’s really important (to) keep customers in the legitimate market where we can make sure we can look after them.”
The financial daily also cited William Hill’s head of finance Sean Wilkins as stating that a tax rise will “only lead to a growth in the black market.” Ladbrokes CEO Stella David weighed in against raising betting taxes, by warning of “the law of unintended consequences”.
U-turn and a halt
Since leaving Paddy Power in 2016, Kenny has shifted his focus away from a CEO’s remit to drive profits and is a leading critic of the industry’s effectiveness in dealing with problem gambling.
His comments that the industry is “scaremongering” will likely not go down too well with British horseracing, as the sport is taking a similar stance to the leading UK sportsbooks.
The British Horseracing Authority on Sunday announced no race meetings will take place on September 10 over proposed tax increases. The strike marks, according to the BHA, the first time in the sport’s modern history that it has “voluntarily refused to race.”
