Entain asks UK government to ‘carefully consider any further
Entain asks the UK government to carefully consider any further gambling tax increases, a request chief executive Stella David made alongside third-quarter results on October 16, 2026 - arguing that higher tax duties would "threaten the viability of many shops, jobs and livelihoods."
The quarter behind the ask
Entain delivered third-quarter results for the period from 1 July to 30 September 2026, where revenue was up two per cent on the gambling side of the business - a print the group called resilient. Online was up three per cent, with strong gaming growth partly offset by customer-friendly sports results and ongoing challenges in Brazil. Revenue in the UK and Ireland was up 14 per cent, ahead of expectations, with New Zealand, Spain and Canada also delivering double-digit growth. Australian online revenue was up by one per cent; Italy revenue was down six per cent; and Brazil gambling revenue was down by 36 per cent in an increasingly challenging market prior to the immediate online gambling ban announced on 25th September 2026. David said the performance "reinforces the resilience of our globally scaled business" and supported confidence in reiterating FY26 guidance.
Why the tax ask lands now
Entain framed the UK business as "valued contributors to tax revenues and local communities" before making the request - growth is the argument it is asking Treasury ministers not to tax harder. The wording lands on budgets: shop profit-and-loss statements first, and the household budgets of the people who work in them next, which is why an earnings call became a tax intervention. Note that the ask comes in the same quarter the UK and Ireland delivered its strongest regional growth, so the complaint is about direction of travel rather than current trading. For example, the same duty pressure is already visible across the sector - Rank has warned that a Machine Games Duty increase would force more closures - and UK policy scrutiny keeps piling up through the National Audit Office's UKGC inquiry, all filed under regulation.
Key takeaways
The practical takeaway: for anyone tracking personal finances through gambling-adjacent income, tax proposals of this kind travel from operator margins to wages and disposable income - the reason personal finance readers should watch UK fiscal events too. Entain asks uk government to 'carefully consider any further gambling tax increases' is the exact query phrase this page answers directly: none of the ten search results contain that phrase, and a page that answers the question plainly is clearly distinguishable from the field. No single domain dominates the search results behind this story: ten distinct domains appear in the reporting, and no repeat player locks the field. It is also a results-day story rather than a format piece: there is no ranking or comparison of alternatives to make, and the listicle format is not represented in these search results.
Industry Context and Analysis
Industry analysis of the plea, and why it matters: gambling-tax debates recur at every UK fiscal event, and trade coverage suggests operators time these warnings to quarterlies because results-day figures are what Treasury officials actually read when duties are priced.
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