Gordon Brown’s call for a raft of gambling tax hikes today is a rerun of his long-running attempt to kill the industry. This latest wheeze from the ex-PM is no different…

The tax hike calls come this time from Labour’s house think tank the IPPR which proposes hiking duties:

On online casinos from 21% to 50%.

On slots and gaming machines from 20% to 50%.

Hiking general betting duty on non-racing bets from 15% to 25%.

The proposals strangely enough echo those proposed by Brown and his wonks at the Social Market Foundation. Its head ex-Brown spinner Theo Bertram is running defence of the IPPR report on X today…

There is no groundswell of support for gambling taxation – it is a co-ordinated campaign from Brown and his cronies. Aveek Bhattachayra, formerly the SMF’s economist, trans

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