Gambling Economic Modelling Project

This project aims to look at the policy recommendations outlined in the April 2023 Government White Paper, “High Stakes: Gambling Reform for the Digital Age”, that reduce or limit the consumers’ ability to spend money on gambling products. The White Paper estimates that the overall impact of it’s recommendations would lead to a reduction in the Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) of between 3-8 per cent per year (DCMS,2023). This amounts to around £329-£812 million retained by customers instead of being spent on gambling.

In 2022, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), stated that they expected the fiscal revenue from betting and gaming duties would reach £3.3 billion per year in 2022-23 (OBR,2022). This highlights how important it is to understand the impact of introducing policies/regulations that reduce gambling consumption and therefore reduce the the tax revenue gained by the British economy as well as other economic indicators such as employment.

Our work alongside the University of Glasgow will look at the what happens to the money that is no longer spent on gambling by consumers and whether this money is spent on other goods/services which have greater economic multipliers than that of the gambling industry. If this is the case, the net economic impact may be positive. For example, the Social Market Foundation found that the multiplier effect from economic sectors such as retail were much greater than the gambling industry (SMF, 2021).