In this week's UK Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer ignored intense lobbying for a relaxation of the tax burden on bingo clubs.
The industry had warned that one in five bingo halls could close unless tax was reduced.
Several loss-making independent clubs and a clutch run by Rank Group and Gala Coral, the dominant bingo operators, were staying open in the hope that Alistair Darling would sympathise with the industry’s claim that it was the only part of the gambling sector to be double taxed.
Instead, bingo’s revenue contribution to the Treasury increased yesterday when the chancellor announced an index-linked rise in duty on gaming machines.
