Bingo and the budget

27th March 2010 12:15 AM

While online bingo sites continue to thrive, land based bingo hall operators were left disappointed after the budget on Thursday. Despite furious campaigning, Alistair Darling unfortunately made no further reductions to the bingo tax in his latest budget announcements. The pending reduction which is due to begin at the end of March, will see the tax level go down from 22% to 20%. However, calls for further reductions bringing bingo in line with other forms of gambling seem to have fallen on deaf ears and it is clear that bingo and the budget are not a mix to be considered at the moment.

Obviously online bingo sites are doing tremendously well at the moment and this is evident by the sheer volume of new bingo sites opening their virtual doors, but bingo hall operators such as Gala Bingo, really need the tax cut at the moment. After the hit of the smoking ban, the recession and the growing numbers turning to online bingo sites, we have seen many bingo halls being forced to close their doors.

It is no secret that Gala Bingo has been struggling for some time and although they operate a very successful online bingo site, there is far from enough revenue to get them out of trouble. The Gala Bingo campaign will still continue, in their bid to force fairer taxation for land based bingo which will allow them to at least have a chance of competing against the growing popularity of online bingo sites. But is there any chance of a tax break for what is considered a very traditional pastime? This is very unlikely in the current climate. It is inevitable that taxes will rise at some point and as land based bingo, online bingo sites and gambling as a whole bring in a huge amount of revenue, we have to consider whether the economy can afford to lose any of the £100 million a year that online bingo sites and bingo halls generate?

Written by Hannah Jones

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