Bookies fear budget hit but gaming machine self-harm killed off the old-fashioned shops

<p>A wholesale plunder of local communities via casino-gaming took place and racing was content to sit on sidelines</p><p>Has it really been almost a year since racing’s last bout of Budget-related anxiety? Apparently so, because having <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/nov/26/horse-racing-celebrates-axe-the-tax-budget-campaign-victory-rachel-reeves-spares-sport">successfully persuaded Rachel Reeves to exempt racing</a> from a (modest) hike in betting duty in 2025, here we are again, nervously anticipating Wednesday’s budget amid warnings that John Healey could effectively sound the death-knell for high-street betting shops.</p><p>Healey is widely expected to raise the rate of machine games duty (MGD) in the budget, a move which could, according to some predictions, lead to the closure of thousands of high-street shops with significant knock-on effects for racing’s income from off-course gambling.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/oct/26/bookies-budget-gaming-machines-horse-racing">Continue reading...</a>