UK BUDGET: Chancellor confirms tax raid on gambling firms and banks

Chancellor John Healey on Wednesday said he was raising taxes on gambling operators and UK banks to help fund the energy support packages.

Healey said he will hike gambling taxes to pay for a high street support package, including by increasing machine games duty from 20% to 25% for higher stakes machines.

Coral and Ladbrokes owner Entain jumped 6.2% to 480.61 pence after the news. There had worries the duty would increase to 40%. Bingo operator Rank traded 7.6% higher at 84.90p.

Healey confirmed the UK's lenders will pay an extra 3% on the surcharge and that the levy will be temporary, used to pay for the support on energy bills. It will start in January and be in place for 15 months. There had been fears that the levy would return to the previous 8% level it had stood at until 2023.

Healey said the tax change will start in January and be in place for 15 months.

UK listed banks traded higher following the news. Lloyds Banking Group PLC rose 3.8% to 106.05 pence, Barclays PLC was up 3.3% at 435.95p and NatWest Group PLC was 3.9% higher at 659.20p.

The 3% bank surcharge raised £1.2 billion for the Treasury in fiscal 2025-26, and each percentage-point increase is estimated to raise a further £400 million each year.

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