Rank Group CEO John O’Reilly has warned any rise in machine gaming duty in this month’s Autumn Budget will bring the land-based casino operator’s nationwide investment “to a shuddering halt”.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to announce an increase machine gaming duty as part of sweeping changes to gambling tax in the Autumn Statement on 26 November that are intended to swell the government’s coffers.

But O’Reilly said the idea gambling was an easy hit for tax increases was “hopelessly misguided” and warned any hike in duty would “slam the brakes” on the £60m of investment Rank had planned across the UK.

Writing in the Daily Mail, he said: “Put simply, if the Chancellor raises machine gaming duty – the tax paid on slot machines – it will bring Rank’s nationwide investment to a shuddering halt, with closures and job losses along the way.

“Increasing machine gaming duty from 20 to 25% would likely see us having to shut a third of our casinos and an even higher proportion of our bingo clubs. Between them, over 2,500 jobs would go. It is senseless.”

In its last financial year, Rank made £44.6m in profit after tax and paid £188m in UK taxes and business rates, according to O’Reilly.

“Broadly, for every £5 we made pre-tax, we paid £4 in tax,” he added. “As the Budget approaches, I read that we must, quite rightly, pay our ‘fair share’ in tax. I believe we do just that.”

The Rank boss taking to the Daily Mail’s financial pages is the latest salvo in an intense lobbying campaign from both sides of the debate on gambling tax rises.

The Institute of Public Policy Research and the Social Market Foundation think tanks have urged the Chancellor to increase remote gaming duty and machine gaming duty to as high as 50%, calls that have been backed by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

But Betting and Gaming Council-commissioned analysis from accountancy firm EY estimated such rises could put over 40,000 jobs at risk, divert £8.4bn in stakes to the black market and wipe £3.1bn from the gambling sector’s contribution to the economy.

The post Rank Group CEO: Tax hikes would be “senseless” first appeared on EGR Intel.