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What is Ocean King Jackpot?
Fred Done, the 83-year-old founder of Betfred and Britain’s highest-paying taxpayer this year, has issued a stark warning about the impact of further tax increases on the gambling industry.
In an interview with the Financial Times over the weekend, Done cautioned that additional tax hikes could result in widespread betting shop closures, harm related sectors such as horse racing and accelerate the decline of the high street.
Betfred currently operates approximately 1,094 retail shops across the UK. Done highlighted the concrete risks of Machine Gaming Duty – taxes on gambling machines – doubling from 20% to 40%, a move reportedly under consideration by Chancellor John Healey ahead of the Autumn Budget.
About Ocean King Jackpot
Andreas Braun, owner of four arcades in Wiesbaden, filed an objection and constitutional complaint against the tax rate in April last year according to local reporting. He argued that the tax rise had provided a ‘strangling’ effect to business and that it consumed operator profits.
According to a high court ruling from over a decade ago, the tax rise cannot be allowed to rise to the point of ‘consuming livelihoods’.
“If the tax burden alone makes it impossible to establish the occupation of slot machine operators as the economic basis of one’s livelihood within the municipality,” the ruling said.
What is Ocean King Jackpot?
Entering iGaming from the outside was nerve-racking, but it has actually turned out to be my biggest advantage. I have no preconceived ideas about how things should be done, and I’m not playing anybody else’s rulebook.
I believe that the industry needs more outside voices. People who come in and look at problems from a different perspective, and who are not constantly worrying about past mistakes.
Technology, especially AI, is impacting all industries, and the more we can learn from one another, the better.