Gordon Brown continues to annoy me – politicalbetting.com
Gordon Brown continues to annoy me – politicalbetting.com
70% of Britons would support raising taxes on online gambling, following Gordon Brown calling for an increase in the levies to fund efforts to tackle child poverty Support: 70%Oppose: 16%yougov.co.uk/topics/polit…
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Be interesting to see how they attempt to raise these taxes and what effect they will have on successful betting companies like Bet365. Will it be tax back on the putter placing the bet or the companies?
Back in the day when a professional poker player, various European governments came up with absolutely moronic solutions to increasing tax revenue on gambling totally misunderstanding the way different gambling worked. In the big beautiful bill in the US, they have also implemented an absolute disaster of a tax on gambling, based upon seeing gambling as akin to investing in shares.
Brown was a master at this kind of moral framing when Chancellor.
This government is far more desperate for cash than was the Blair one, and will seize on any model that works.
The Tories didn't have an answer to it back then, either. It's only when the wheels finally fall off that the logic looks suspect.
[snip the 90 per cent about starving children]
Excluding the lottery, betting and gaming was an £11.5bn sector last year that incurred only £2.5bn in tax. As much as £3bn extra can be raised from taxing it properly. Remote gaming duty (effectively the tax on online slots games) is about 35% in the Netherlands, 40% in Austria, 50% in Pennsylvania and 57% in tax haven Delaware, two of the few US states where it is legal. Yet the same activity is taxed at just 21% in the UK, raising only £1bn. Applying a 50% levy – much less than the 80% tax on cigarettes and the 70% tax on whisky – would raise £1.6bn more. Raising the general betting duty on bookmakers’ profits from 15% to 25% could generate an additional £450m, after returning £100m as additional support to boost the horseracing industry.
To achieve parity with their online equivalents, machine game duty payable on the revenue from in-person slot machines should also increase from 25% to 50%. According to IPPR estimates, this would raise an additional £880m.
The government could then start to reduce child poverty. Unlike almost all other businesses, most gaming and betting is exempt from VAT. Its most addictive practices are responsible for social harm that costs the NHS and other public services more than £1bn a year.
Gambling levies aren’t the only source of revenue that could pay to alleviate child poverty. But this should be one straightforward budget choice. The government can fulfil today’s unmet needs by taxing an undertaxed sector. Gambling won’t build our country for the next generation, but children, freed from poverty, will.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/06/gambling-industry-profitable-tax-fight-child-poverty
At least Gordon Brown does seem to recognise not all gambling is the same.
The problem is that the wider debate has moved on. There is a lot more condemnation of gambling out there, and it may go the way of cigarettes if abolitionists win against the sin tax lobby.
His feel for what was important to the English working class : football, home, gardening and DIY, beer, gambling is beautifullly set out in the Lion and the Unicorn.
Eighty years later it is surprising how little the archetype of the ordinary English worker AND the type of Cosmopolitan socialist he disliked (he might almost have had Starmer in his minds eye) have changed.
Imo, the vibes of this tax go back much further than Orwell. It reeks of the type of Puritanism the English ultimately came to hate under Cromwell.
Farrage is ofcourse very much a Cavalier and embodies a visceral opposition to this sort of thing.
It's not exactly surprising they're worried about a repeat.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia may become Putin's next target - because of this, the leaders of the Baltic countries criticized any attempts to force Ukraine to cede territory, writes FT.
https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/1954123898296975865
How the gig economy conquered Britain and stoked the migration crisis
Uber and Deliveroo have transformed the UK, but concerns are growing that they attract illegal workers
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/08/10/how-the-gig-economy-conquered-britain-and-stoked-the-migrat/ (£££)
The Government already has form with its mentally subnormal "but TEH kidz!" approach to VPN usage rising after the OSA disaster, so they'll bite on this. Not least because it means they can avoid breaking their own unnecessarily self-imposed promises on other taxes.
What does "the government will end up implicating" mean, please?
Is not implicating a word requiring an object as well as a subject?
For professional poker who specialises in tournaments these days they will have many millions in buy-ins. They could easily be on the hook for $100k's in taxes despite not making any money in a given year.
Nobody seems to be fessing up to who actually put this in there. It wasn't in the original text from Trump.
Taxes on betting company profits are broadly fine and there is scope to increase taxes for the treasury. Perhaps halfway between current and Brown's proposed ones would be about right.
Brown would have been involved in the move from turnover to profits taxation for betting in 2001, which has been a big success, and understands the detail better than most politicians.
Despite making most of my money from betting I'm in favour. It undoubtedly causes many social ills, as well as providing some smaller social benefits and being an inevitable part of being human.
Leave out sports and political betting
This generation are #Uber-riding #Airbnb-ing #Deliveroo-eating #freedomfighters
Creating a pile of half under-the-counter jobs that pay poorly by British standards but not badly globally was probably a mistake.
Still, the other effect seems to have been to make some Venture Capitalists poorer, so swings and roundabouts.
The level of fraud in that industry needs to be tackled and taxing them should be just a start.
I was unsurprised that the OSA did absolutely nothing to stop predatory games publishers targeting kids with gambling mechanics, it's almost as of the government doesn't know what it's doing and doesn't realise what is actually poisoning kids brains right now.
EA now only makes about 20% of it's revenue from the actual price of the game in shops. The rest comes from selling ultimate team packs for their sports games. Game publishers have ruthlessly exploited legal grey areas to get a generation of kids addicted to gambling mechanics and turn them into cash cows.
I know somebody who works in that industry and the money for one of those games is predicated on a small number of people becoming so addicted they spend insane amounts of money like a gambling addict (but without any of the tools that gambling sites must have like time outs, deposit limits and affordability checks).
And that since Andrew had some sort of sex mania, which I think separate accounts over the years probably support indicatively, that supplying girls was the way to get control over him.
I think that's as close as I'll walk to that line here for the sake of PB. It's fairly sordid.
It's from Michael Wolff, one of Donald Trump's biographers. It is embedded in a section of blog-style campaigning from Meidas Touch - where tbf one of their techniques is to keep mentioning everything they already know in order to keep the spotlight on their target issue, and try and drive their wedge deeper to open up cracks.
To me given Trump & Epstein this could be perfectly possible, but it could also be Daily Mail type "sexing up" of a story that has been fed into the general media landscape.
https://youtu.be/NLwYCCx03-4?t=224
‘Ludicrous’ to blame gig economy for mass migration, insists Lord Cameron
The former PM denies that coalition policies created black market jobs that draw migrants to Britain
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/08/09/ludicrous-blame-gig-economy-mass-migration-david-cameron/ (£££)
One problem that bookmakers have is they've closed down anyone who might have a clue and sent them off to the black market, or grey market.
America is seen as the new frontier. You may have seen during the week that Flutter (which owns Betfair and Paddy Power) announced hugely increased profits from there.
https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1954452001745412221?s=19
I think the courts have already shown that you might "face" deportation but it won't happen in many cases.
More than social media, these types of games are turning a generation of kids (and adults) into mindless zombies tapping away at their phone screens. I worry that there are close to zero MPs that truly understand the level of damage they are inflicting on younger generations and are happy to just blindly accept what the gaming industry tells them about it.
At the end of the day, some taxes are going to rise and it won't be Income Tax, Vat or Employee NI which doesn't leave a lot. Gambling gets a very generous regulatory environment here, even with a few minor recent restrictions in advertising, causes harm and should be taxed differently to "normal" business.
Fuel duty is another obvious target, which again I support despite driving more than your average Joe.
EDIT: they were banned in 2018. Finger on the pulse Doug they call me…
In large measure, paid out business finance expenses (ie mortgage payments) were still taxed as if they were retained personal income. It's not quite like that, but there are similarities.
But it makes sense.
Another labour ruse of raising taxes and then spending them on another spending commitment (which by the way is not popular according to polls) and at the same leaving the entirely 'self created Reeves black hole of 40 billion' untouched
Labour are addicted to taxing and spending, and just cannot help themselves
He cut the budget for the EHRC by 75%, which seems to me to be substantially responsible for the mess of ineffective pottage we are left with now for EIAs, for example. Brandon Lewis: "time consuming, bureaucratic, tick-box exercises".
https://www.ippr.org/articles/transforming-equality
i was looking at it because the Daily Telegraph is having kittens about "Labour's attack on the middle classes", which is their translation of the Govt moving to undermine the practice of wealthy people buying houses near to good state schools, forcing prices up.
The Govt are proposing to activate Section 1 of the Equality Act (already done one Wales / Scotland) which is that socioeconomic factors be taken into account by public sector bodies ... here that in practice good schools will have to consider how poor their potential pupils are, as well as how close they live. So getting in by buying an expensive house will be more difficult, and the Telegraph is cross.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/08/08/middle-class-children-shut-out-best-schools-equality-drive/
What prompts did you use for this one? Did you miss the “70%” bit?
PS: Community Shield today and I dreamt about it last night for some reason. Palace scored first (in the dream) but Liverpool came back to win 2/1.
DYOR obviously.
The truth hurts at times
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn72dknzepjo
Under the proposals, those who are given fixed-term sentences could be deported straight away and would be barred from re-entering the UK.
The decision over whether they go on to serve their sentences abroad would be up to the country they are sent to, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) told the BBC. In theory, this means that some criminals may be able to walk free upon arrival in their destination country.
Foreign offenders make up around 12% percent of the prison population, with prison places costing £54,000 a year on average, according to the government.
It says the new powers would save money for British taxpayers and protect the public.
Those serving life sentences, such as terrorists and murderers, will serve their full prison sentence in the UK before being considered for deportation, it said.
Once a custodial sentence is handed down by a judge, the decision over whether someone will be deported will fall to a prison governor, the MoJ said.
Authorities would retain the power to keep criminals in custody if, for example, they were planning further crimes against the UK's interests or were seen as a danger to national security.
The MoJ told the BBC that its definition of a foreign national is based on the conditions laid out in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act.
If passed, the new powers could be applied to those already in prison, meaning the government could begin deportations immediately. As of January 2024, there were about 10,400 foreign nationals in the prison system...
We’re staying in the city of Zhytomr, a regional capital of around 250,000 people 130km West of Ukraine. I have to say that it’s been a good week, and the overwhelming atmosphere appears to be positive. Everything is open, and people appear to be going about their business as usual.
The city seems much cleaner than before, I last visited two years’ ago, and there’s been what appear to be groups of regular people rather than council employees helping out with sweeping and cleaning. The roadworks crews even appear to be doing regular maintenance works rather than reacting to war-related damage. There’s very few vagrants around compared to most other European cities. Saturday night was busy in town, bars are restaurants overflowing on to the main street. It was however noticeable that around 2/3 of the partygoers were women. Sadly the young women here appear to like tattoos and funny lips as much as they do anywhere else these days.
One of the observiations that has been continuously changing since I first visited here a decade ago, has been the cars, a trend that continues to this day, despite the war. Back then they were around 1/3 Ladas, 1/3 ‘80s and ‘90s Western cars, and 1/3 modern cars. Now there are very few Ladas still around, still about 1/3 ‘90s and ‘00s Western cars, but probably half are now modern cars and half of them from the last five years. There was apparently a scheme to donate old cars to the military, and taxes reduced on imports of new and nearly-new cars, to encourage the market and keep taxes flowing to the government. Buying a new car with your savings is seen as patriotic!
When it comes to the general costs of living, it’s a cheap place to be. The exchange rate is continuing its slide and is now around 50 Grivnas to the pound, which is good news if you’re here to spend hard currency. A beer is £1.50-£2.50 in the bar, and a bottle of local or Georgian wine will give you change from a tenner. In a nice (not fancy) restaurant a burger will be £3-5 and a steak £5-10. We’re staying with family, but a quick Google shows a local 4* hotel at £50 a night, so you could probably stay here for £100/day/couple. Larger cities such as Lviv will be perhaps 50% more expensive, and Kiev a little more expensive again.
(Part 1/2)
It's very good - and looks at the benefits of sophisticated programming .. Netherlands vs North America.
https://youtu.be/knbVWXzL4-4?t=90
And it's a bizarre observation from BigG. Does he really expect a Labour government to be low tax, low spend? They haven't even deviated much from the Conservatives anyway - the tax burden has increased from something like 37.1% to 38% in 2028-29. It's 47% in Denmark, 45% in France, 43% in Sweden, 40% in the Netherlands and Germany.
Perhaps one of the most amazing things is that there is little evidence of the ongoing war here. There’s a memorial in the main square (photo to follow), some reinforcements around key public buildings, and the occasional air aid siren. The sirens are many fewer in number and lesser in duration than two years ago, the authorities appear to have much better intelligence now as to the timing and number of incoming threats. We’ve had only I think 4 warnings, most of which cleared in 20 or 30 minutes. Damaged buildings are generally repaired/covered/flattened rather than being left as evidence of the war. I’ve seen a few injured men walk king around, perhaps half a dozen with missing legs, and the men wear their uniforms in public.
There’s lots of Ukranian flags on buildings and houses, much as you’d find in say the US.
I think it’s fair to say that although Ukranian people want the war to be over, they’re not willing to surrender their territory in order for that to be the case. Hopefully the new diplomatic efforts in recent days can at least get everyone talking, although I am still convinced that the two sides are as far apart as ever. I’ve never particularly been a fan of David Lammy, but it does appear that his meeting on the Ukranian situation went well yesterday. I’d be surprised if the meeting between Putin and Trump happens, there isn’t enough common ground to agree to anything except a ceasefire, and the Russian side still has no interest in that.
First thought; what if something is a crime in GB but not in wherever the criminal is being deported to? Or 'serious' here but not there?
How many people have actually been deported this year, directly for committing crimes in the UK?
In fact I posted this on here when Labour got in that I thought they would start to crack down on "sins" like gambling. Pretty sure fuel duty will be in for a big hike under the guise of greening the economy.
I'm more annoyed by the ancient Rule 4. Every single time I win on the horses I seem to be cut by at least 20%.
I feel sorry for Brown, tries to make his mission reducing child poverty, hated. Clegg paid millions for encouraging teen suicide etc, people like him.
Arthur Laffer wants his curve back!
1. A “ruse” is a trick, a deception. This article is an op-ed by a former leader, not even policy yet, it may never even be policy, which sets out (if adopted) exactly what they would do. How exactly is it a “ruse”?
2. “…not that popular according to polls…” is demonstrably untrue given the thread header confirms the (proposed) policy itself polls at 70% support.
3. “…self created black hole of £40 billion…” which you later go on to suggest was caused by the 30 October 2024 autumn statement. But this figure was being discussed BEFORE the Autumn statement. Here’s an article mentioning it 2 weeks earlier-
https://news.sky.com/story/chancellor-rachel-reeves-looking-to-find-40bn-in-budget-13234210
So when did Reeves create this “black hole” before the Autumn statement? Why was she looking to fill it? What economic levers did she disasterously pull between 4 July and October 2024 to create this oft quoted figure?
5. As for “addicted”…what do you want me to say here? The original sin of this government (winter fuel allowance) that precipitated its rapid fall in the polls was a significant spending cut.
I’m sorry but none of your post stood up to any scrutiny at all.
Can any single person be cashflow positive betting on EPL or the loosely motorsports based soap opera for middle aged white men? I doubt it these days,
wtf. A friend tells me “antique prices have collapsed”. “Especially for old brown stuff”
Is this true? It seems true from this deal
OTOH I might get it and find it collapses on arrival
The Government is not on track to meet its ‘stability rule’, with our forecast suggesting a current deficit of £41.2 billion in the fiscal year 2029-30
https://niesr.ac.uk/publications/uk-economic-outlook-chancellors-trilemma?type=uk-economic-outlook
This is what Big_G_NorthWales is referring it and it has been widely reported across the media over the past week.
Also - can you get them to come clean up Britain? Thanx
But in general, as a former professional gambler, I tell people betting on things like the EPL is incredibly difficult as the market is extremely efficient. Tony Bloom has done it with a big team of maths PhDs. Also, if you do have an edge, getting money on is the hardest part. Haralabos Voulgaris has amazing stories of the lengths he had to go to actually bet on sports as nobody would take his money.
“People don’t want antiques, the market is saturated by eBay and Facebook and Etsy”
He reckons my table could easily have cost 4x this 15-20 years ago
How much was spent on Covid-19 measures?
The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in very high levels of public spending. Current estimates of the total cost of government Covid-19 measures range from about £310 billion to £410 billion. This is the equivalent of about £4,600 to £6,100 per person in the UK.
Official figures show that spending in 2020/21 was about £179 billion higher than had been planned before the pandemic for that year.
Source: National Audit Office and HM Treasury (NAO/HMT), Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), and International Monetary Fund (IMF); see section 1.1 of this briefing for details. Calculated using UK population estimate from Office for National Statistics (ONS), Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-2020, 25 June 2021
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gambling-tax-deduction-trump-bill_n_686dabede4b07e11dd9982a8
The suggestion has been that it’s the work of the Senate “Parliamentarian”, the civil servant that drafts the legislative text.
As with pretty much every American Bill, no-one actually reads the several hundred pages of text that get released only a day or two before it’s up for a vote.