Taxation of gambling in the UK

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FORTHCOMING CHANGES: From 1 April 2027, the rate of general betting duty will be 25%. Remote betting on UK horse racing and any bets placed via self-service betting terminals on licenced premises will be excluded from the 25% rate and instead remain chargeable at 15%.

Gambling duties

Different forms of gambling are subject to different duties under UK law. There were essentially seven types of gambling duty in force from 1 December 2014, when the UK tax treatment of gambling underwent a significant change under Part 3 of the Finance Act 2014. Following amendments made by the Finance Act 2026, there are now six types of gambling duty, these are:

  1. •

    general betting duty

  2. •

    pool betting duty

  3. •

    gaming duty

  4. •

    remote gaming duty

  5. •

    machine games duty

  6. •

    lottery duty

All of the duties have the same general structure—being a tax on the net profits derived by the operator of the gambling facilities from gambling. 'Net profits' in this context is not a defined term (it is referred

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