Mecca appeal for taxation to be removed from the bingo world
5th November, 2009
Over the past couple of months there has been excessive exposure of the effects that the tax increase from 15% to 22% has had on land based bingo, forcing several halls to close which has resulted in high volumes of job losses, not to mention the impact it has had on communities. In response to this, Chief Executive of the Rank Group, who owns the popular Mecca Bingo, has made a personal plea to try and cut the taxes.
Ian Burke had three main objectives in his appeal, and he provided the exchequer secretary, Sarah McCarty Fry, with the requests ahead of the Governments pre budget report as an attempt to speak on behalf of several companies using his own, Mecca, as a prime example.
Burke went on to appeal for firstly, the level of tax duty on bingo to match the levels applied to online bingo and other forms within the gaming industry which currently stands at 15%. Secondly he asked that revenue generated in casino card rooms are removed for taxation and finally he requested, the level of taxation applied to gaming machines remains consistent and is not increased in the future.
It appears that the frustration has built from the obvious lack of support from the Government during a fragile economic period. Looking around, it stands to say that there has been enhanced support for certain business areas over others and it seems unlucky that the bingo world is suffering from other peoples mistakes.
Burke concluded his appeal by explaining, ““In the last few years our business has experienced sudden, unheralded and substantial tax increases, both in relation to casino and bingo. These changes have raised the tax burden considerably and have necessitated profit warnings following two out of the last three budget announcements. We are unaware of any other sector in Britain which has been required to take similar action as a direct result of Government tax policy.”
It seems that Mecca’s appeal is not too much to ask and they are not expecting the Government to hand out endless money to support them and change the damage that has been caused from what can only be described as unfair calculations, they simply want the Government to treat them how they treat every other company. They request that taxation is reduced to what it was before, and that it remains in correlation with other gaming tax laws, a very simple request from a company that leads the bingo industry.
By Gina
