Britain's Bookies Hit With Fees
UNITED KINGDOM – As reported by the UK Independent: "Britain's bookmakers took a blow when the Chancellor imposed licence fees on their betting machines, a move that will cost the industry tens of millions of pounds, and increased the tax on one-armed bandits at arcades and clubs.
"From 1 August, bookies will have to pay an annual licence duty of £1,965 per machine on electronic fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), on top of VAT. There are about 20,000 machines across the UK.
"…[A spokesman for Ladbrokes] said the company would be hit by £3m this year and £11m next. William Hill said the impact on its figures would be slightly higher as it has 7,500 machines.
"…The increase on clubs' jackpot machines will hurt non-profit making sports clubs which are heavily reliant on the money…"
2006-03-27
