Summaries of the Clifton Davies panel sessions at Betting on Sports this week

Below is an update on each of the Betting on Sports week panel sessions moderated in the last two days by David Clifton and Suzanne Davies.

1  David Clifton’s “UK Tax Hike” session

With particular insight provided by:

  • Clive Hawkswood, CEO of the Remote Gambling Association (at the far right hand side in the photograph above) and
  • Steven Effingham, formerly Deputy Director, VAT & Excise at H.M. Treasury and now Director of Tax Policy at Ernst & Young (2nd from right above),

supplemented by analytical comment from James Myles, Director of Eta Delta (3rd from right above), David’s “UK Tax Hike” session – forming part of the Casino Beats Summit – (previewed here) revealed the following:

  • A consultation on the appropriate future rate of remote gaming duty (“RGD”), will commence shortly
  • Little purpose will be served in the remote gaming sector pursuing an “unfairness” argument because H.M. Treasury needs to “fill the hole” that will arise from the UK Government’s May 2018 decision to reduce the maximum stake on an FOBT from £100 to £2
  • If a strictly tax neutral approach was to be taken by Treasury in calculating the likely shortfall in tax revenues arising from the FOBT stake reduction, the rate of RGD would need to increase from 15% to somewhere between 17% and 22%, but the starting point for consultation purposes might well be 25%
  • Small operators are likely to feel the economic pinch from the RGD increase more than larger operators
  • In terms of implementation, the Government has indicated that the RGD increase will coincide with the reduction of the maximum FOBT stake, which may be in April next year.

UPDATE:

David’s “UK Tax Hike” session is also reported in articles by Gambling Compliance, CasinoBeats.com, SBC News and a Global Betting & Gaming Consultants (“gbgc”) online news item entitled “UK compliance measures begin to biteA video of the complete session can also now be viewed on Vimeo here or via the sbcconnect.com by clicking on “CasinoBeats Summit” on the drop-down track menu.

 

2  Suzanne Davies’ “Are regulators the biggest threat to the industry?”  session

As anticipated, Suzanne’s Betting on Sports session entitled “Are regulators the biggest threat to the industry?” provoked a lively exchange of views with very mixed opinions being expressed about the UK Gambling Commission by:

  • Steve Donoughue, a gambling consultant (3rd from left in the photograph above) – answering the question with a resounding “yes” and
  • Sarne Lightman, Managing Director of Betbright (4th from left above) – answering the question with a carefully balanced “no”.

Enlightening perspectives on gambling regulation in other jurisdictions were provided by:

  • Bill Mummery, Executive Director of SBOBET in relation to the Isle of Man (1st from left above) and
  • George Rover,  formerly deputy director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and now Managing Partner of Princeton Global Strategies, in relation to New Jersey, USA (2nd from left above),

with the majority verdict amongst panellists and audience alike being that no threat to the industry exists where high standards of regulation are provided by good regulators.

UPDATE: You can now view Suzanne’s “Are regulators the biggest threat to the industry?” session via sbcconnect.com by clicking on “Betting on Retail and Betting on Regulation” on the drop-down track menu