Reeves Leaves Door Open To Gambling Tax Rise In Autumn Budget

Rachel Reeves left the door open up to an increase in gaming taxes after Gordon Brown urged her to raise levies to cover the cost of raising the two-child benefit cap.


The Chancellor said she was "deeply concerned" about kid hardship as she dealt with questions about the former prime minister's proposal to increase tasks for online gambling establishments and slot machines to fund well-being reform.


Asked whether she was considering Mr Brown's recommendation, Ms Reeves said she had spoken with him last week and would set out Government policy in the fall budget plan.


Gordon Brown said betting taxes need to be raised to fund welfare reform (Dominic Lipinski/PA)


"So I speak with Gordon frequently, and saw him recently when I was in Scotland," she said.


"Like Gordon, I am deeply worried around the levels of kid hardship in Britain. No kid needs to grow up starving or parents not be able to manage the fundamentals for their household.


"We're a Labour Government. Obviously, we care about kid hardship. That's why among the very first things we did as a was to establish a kid hardship job force that will be reporting in the autumn and (will) react to it then."


She included: "On gambling taxes, we've already launched an evaluation into betting taxes. We're taking evidence on that at the moment, and again, we'll set out our policies in the typical way, in our budget plan later this year."


Reforms to gambling levies might produce the ₤ 3.2 billion needed to ditch the two-child limitation and advantage cap, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said.


The think tank's latest research stated axing the policies might raise half a million kids out of poverty and "reverse years of increasing challenge for low-income families".


Giving his support to the report, Mr Brown, an image of whom Ms Reeves reportedly kept in her bedroom as a student, stated it would be the "first essential step in the war we should wage against child hardship".


The Government is expected to release a kid poverty method in the fall, and project groups have actually said it must consist of a commitment to desert the two-child limit.


Thanks to IPPR's report, we now understand that taxing betting more relatively would completely money the first essential step in the war we must wage against child hardship - ending the two-child limitation and raising the advantage cap


Gordon Brown


Economists have cautioned tax increases in the autumn are likely required to plug a hole in the general public financial resources left by bad financial figures and U-turns on welfare, triggering speculation about which areas Ms Reeves might target.


The IPPR suggested increasing taxes on online gambling establishments from 21% to 50% and raising those on slots and video gaming makers, from 20% to 50%.


Mr Brown included: "Thanks to IPPR's report, we now know that taxing gambling more fairly would totally money the first essential action in the war we must wage against kid poverty - ending the two-child limit and raising the benefit cap."


Labour Mayor for the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram heaped further pressure on the Chancellor later Thursday, stating that raising 500,000 kids out of poverty need to be "a nationwide objective".


"Gordon is area on," he said. "The Government has a genuine chance to act now and transform young lives throughout the nation."


Gordon is area on - raising 500,000 children out of poverty should be a nationwide mission.


The federal government has a genuine opportunity to act now and change young lives throughout the nation.


Let's get this done. https://t.co/JQY3K0jFxp


- Steve Rotheram (@MetroMayorSteve) August 7, 2025


But a representative for the Betting and Gaming Council declined the "financially negligent, factually deceiving" propositions which "danger driving substantial numbers to the growing, risky, unregulated gaming black market, which doesn't protect customers and contributes no tax".


They added: "Further tax increases, fresh off the back of Government reforms which cost the sector over a billion in lost revenue, would do more harm than good, for punters, tasks, development and public finances."