Clean Up Gambling: Chancellor must prevent remote sector from harming UK economy

Clean Up Gambling has implored the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reassess the tax system applied to online operators in the UK in a scathing open letter.

The reform group, fronted by Matt Zarb-Cousin and Derek Webb, published an open letter to Jeremy Hunt in the Financial Times this weekend in an effort to raise awareness over what they deem to be lenient tax laws for the industry.

Hunt was drafted into Number 11 to replace former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and steady the economic ship following then Prime Minister Liz Truss’ disastrous mini budget.

The open letter included a range of numbers, including the estimate that more than £50bn has been “extracted” from the UK economy by remote operators, with this figure set to rise to more than £100bn before 2030.

Webb and Zarb-Cousin proposed a series of potential changes to tax laws for the industry, including bringing remote operator tax closer in line with the land-based sector.

The letter read: “The total asset value of remote gambling operators is partially based on the failure to introduce gaming tax or betting duty on the sector until the enactment of legislation in 2014.

“Furthermore, many of these operators have long avoided certain taxes by basing all or parts of their activity offshore, even though some of them are household names in the UK.”

The duo suggested, alongside bringing taxes and duties in line with the land-based industry, operators that base themselves in “offshore tax havens like Gibraltar” should be subject to additional premiums.

Webb and Zarb-Cousin ended their open letter with a plea to Hunt to move to implement the new system for the sake of protecting the wider economy.

“We hope that you are willing to support the reforms needed to boost growth, uphold fairness in the tax system and to take the action necessary to prevent the remote gambling sector from further harming the UK economy,” the letter concluded.