Genting UK CEO Raises Alarm Over Proposed Machine Games Duty Increase

Genting UK CEO Paul Willcock issued a direct warning about the potential doubling of Machine Games Duty from 20% to 40% as the government considers this adjustment ahead of the October 28 Budget in 2026, and the move could trigger the shutdown of 13 out of the company's 32 UK casino venues while placing 900 jobs at risk and generating annual costs of around £16m for the business.

The Specifics of the Tax Proposal

The Machine Games Duty increase under review applies specifically to fixed-odds betting terminals that deliver games such as roulette and blackjack, and this measure stems from a July 2026 proposal by the Social Market Foundation that has now entered active consideration for the upcoming budget process.

Willcock outlined the scale of the impact in clear terms, noting that the tax hike would reduce the company's annual profitability by roughly £16m while forcing difficult decisions about venue viability across its portfolio of 32 locations throughout the United Kingdom.

Employment and Venue Consequences

Closure of 13 sites would directly affect 900 positions according to the figures provided by Genting UK, and these roles span operations, customer service, and technical support at the affected casinos where the terminals generate significant revenue streams subject to the proposed duty rate.

Observers note that the terminals in question represent a core component of casino income because they host popular table-style games that attract steady player traffic, which means any substantial tax increase alters the economic equation for maintaining those machines and the venues that house them.

Industry-Wide Reactions and Parallel Warnings

Rank Group, the owner of Grosvenor Casinos, delivered comparable cautions about the same duty adjustment, and this alignment between major operators highlights shared concerns over how the change would reshape operating margins across the sector without any offsetting adjustments in other areas of casino taxation.

Both companies operate extensive networks of venues that rely on these terminals for a meaningful portion of their revenue, and the combined warnings underscore that the duty applies uniformly regardless of ownership structure or specific location details.

Timeline and Decision Context

The budget scheduled for October 28 2026 serves as the immediate decision point where the government will determine whether to implement the doubling of the rate from its current 20% level, and industry participants have used the intervening period since the July proposal to quantify and communicate potential downstream effects on staffing and site operations.

Those who've studied similar tax adjustments in other jurisdictions know that operators typically respond by evaluating which locations can sustain higher costs and which cannot, and Genting UK's assessment has already identified 13 sites as falling into the latter category under the proposed 40% rate.

Conclusion

The warning from Genting UK CEO Paul Willcock provides concrete numbers on venue closures, job impacts, and annual cost increases tied directly to the Machine Games Duty proposal now under consideration for the October 28 Budget, and parallel statements from Rank Group add further detail to the picture of how this tax change would affect multiple major operators in the UK casino market.