The casino and bingo hall operator said a rise in machine games duty from 20% to 40% could put around 2,000 UK jobs at risk.
Rank Group has warned that raising machine games duty from 20% to 40% could force it to close around a third of its venues and affect approximately 2,000 UK workers. Chief executive Richard Harris told the Press Association that the North of England would be particularly affected. The warning follows recent tax changes and wider closures and job losses across the UK gambling sector.
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- Sep 28, 2026, 10:33 AM
Casino and bingo hall operator Rank Group has warned that a third of its venues could face closure if the Government sharply increases gaming machine taxes at next month’s Budget.
The Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos parent company said around 30% of its UK workforce—approximately 2,000 workers—could be affected.
The Government is reportedly considering raising machine games duty, which applies to fruit machines, roulette machines and other slot machines. Operators currently pay 20% tax on profits from the machines.
The Social Market Foundation think tank has indicated that increasing the rate to 40% could raise around £450 million in additional tax revenue.
Richard Harris, Rank’s chief executive, told the Press Association that a rise to 40% would make large parts of the company’s estate “unviable”.
“We have a healthy business, but if it went to 40% about a third of our estate would have to close,” he said.
“Jobs would be at risk and it would have a big impact to local areas by hitting workers, but losing bingo halls would have a social impact, too.”
“There are other operators who wouldn’t just be looking at shutting venues but wouldn’t have a future at all.”
Mr Harris said any increase would put the future of several venues in doubt, with sites in the North of England expected to be particularly affected.
His comments follow an increase in remote gaming duty—the tax on online casino and slots—from 21% to 40% in April this year. The changes, announced at last year’s autumn Budget, also included the removal of bingo duty, which had been set at 10%.
Mr Harris said Rank had already come under pressure from recent tax changes, including increases to national insurance contributions. The company has closed nine bingo hall venues over the past year amid high labour costs and pressure on household budgets.
The warning comes after a series of closures and job losses across the UK gambling sector. Earlier this month, Ladbrokes owner Entain revealed plans to cut around 400 jobs worldwide because of higher taxes and warned that more jobs could be at risk if the Government doubled machine games duty.
In July, Betfred said it would close 132 shops and cut more than 600 jobs from September, partly in response to the increased impact of taxes.
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