There were no shocks for the UK’s coin machine industry in the chancellor of the exchequer’s annual Budget speech in the House of Commons this week. This is when Britain finds out what changes in taxes and spending the country is to face in the coming year.
The chancellor, Philip Hammond, announced that the UK has the second-fastest growing economy in the G7 and that the economy would grow by two per cent in the next year. He forecast inflation to hit 2.4 per cent in 2017 but said the rate is expected to drop in the following years.
The games and gaming industry would suffer, along with other businesses, in terms of local taxes, but pubs - where AWP machines are played - would get an annual discount.
However, with one in five pubs having closed through, among other reasons, high taxation, this benefit of £1,000 per year is more than offset by the announced rise in beer tax, adding 2p to the price of a pint of beer from next week.
Pubs industry spokesmen quickly forecast the loss of 4,000 jobs in the pubs sector in the coming year.
A range of other increases or reliefs from taxation in various sectors are not seen as influences on the gaming industry or the wider leisure industry.
More impact is expected from the next triennial review, which revisits the laws and fiscal regulations covering gaming and which is held every three years and is to be announced shortly.
