UK Tax Hike Could Close 13 Genting Casinos, Cut 900 Jobs
A UK Treasury proposal to double gaming machine duty from 20% to 40% would make 13 of Genting's 32 UK casinos unprofitable or unsustainable, according to the operator's own modelling reported by London Business News, citing a City A.M. op-ed written on the operator's behalf.
Doubling the duty would add approximately £16 million a year to Genting's cost base.
Applied across a casino estate already operating on thin margins, the company says that addition would push more than a third of its UK venues into unprofitability.
Risk Of Job Losses
The tax increase could put over 850 jobs at the affected sites and around 50 support roles at risk.
"It would discourage investment, put jobs at risk and could leave the Treasury with less revenue, not more." - Genting Casino
Genting has invested close to £1 billion in its UK estate to date, including a planned £50 million, 37,000 sq ft transformation of the Trocadero site in Piccadilly, expected to create 350 to 400 permanent roles plus around 350 further construction and design jobs, and a refurbishment of its Portland Street casino in Manchester.
The operator's case against the proposal centres on the idea that a higher rate applied to a shrinking estate would raise less revenue overall than the current rate applied to a full one, since a closed venue pays no duty at all.
It also argues that demand lost from licensed, regulated venues would not simply disappear but could migrate toward unregulated alternatives that contribute nothing to the Treasury and offer none of the same player protections.
Casino Games Hub
Genting's UK casino business traces back to the Stanley Leisure acquisition in 2006, later folded into Genting Malaysia Berhad's outright purchase of the estate in 2010, when the group ran 46 of the UK's 146 licensed casinos.
Ultimately controlled by Malaysia's Genting Group, founded in 1965, the operator says it has invested close to £1 billion in its UK estate since entering the market, spanning venues from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Plymouth alongside the current Manchester and West End developments.
Genting also points to its wider tax record, saying it paid more than £750 million in UK taxes, duties and levies between 2016 and 2025.
Its warning is echoed by Bacta, the land-based machines trade body, whose members unanimously said the proposed duty rise would hurt their businesses, with 90% calling the impact severe.
