Labour MPs push for higher tax on UK Category B gaming machines ahead of 28 October Budget

With the UK Autumn Budget set for 28 October, Labour MPs are pressing Chancellor John Healey to raise the Machine Games Duty (MGD) on Category B machines, especially B3 machines in adult gaming centres. For high-risk operators, the point is straightforward: this is another sign that fiscal pressure is no longer limited to online gambling.

1. Alex Ballinger led a group of Labour MPs in sending a letter to John Healey last Friday, asking for a higher tax rate on Category B gaming machines. The request focuses in particular on B3 machines, which are found in adult gaming centres.
2. The tax in question is Machine Games Duty (MGD), which applies to revenue generated by gaming machines. The MPs want the government to apply a higher rate to a specific, higher-risk slice of the land-based market rather than to all physical gambling activity.
3. The letter leans on the government’s recent move on online gambling: last year, the UK announced that Remote Gaming Duty would rise from 21% to 40%, with the change taking effect on 1 April 2026. The MPs argue that the same principle should apply on the high street: the more harmful the product, the higher the tax.
4. The push follows a report from the Social Market Foundation, which called on the government to increase MGD for Category B machines, describing them as higher risk. That report shifted the debate from a broad tax hike for land-based gambling to a narrower target: one machine category with greater harm potential.
5. In their letter, the MPs describe the tax rise as “popular, specific and proportionate” and say it would protect the wider leisure and hospitality sector because pubs do not offer Category B machines. The letter also cites a Social Market Foundation survey showing that 43% of voters support higher taxes on betting shop slot machines on the high street.

The industry’s response was immediate. Grainne Hurst, chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), called the proposed increase “pr…”