Darling (Lord GaGa) shows his poker face

If ever there was a time for the gambling industry in the UK to be both worried and dismayed, it is now. Alistair Darling has taken a side swipe at the poker world with the surprising decision to tax poker in the same fashion as casino games. Alistair Darling remained impassive as he delivered news of the budget even though this was one of the toughest budgets on record from any Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The shock budget news saw Rank shares take a massive tumble of 9 per cent immediately after the budget details were released. In fact so incensed has the Chief Executive at Rank, Mr Ian Burke, been that he has written to the Chancellor in protestation. He has stated in his letter that it is his belief that poker games will be ‘driven underground’ and that card rooms will close.

Rank is already smarting from the shock announcement in the budget that duty on bingo will rise to 22 per cent from the current 15 per cent, this was immediately after removing the VAT which the bingo halls had previously been paying. Bingo halls around the country had been campaigning long and hard for the double taxation that they suffered with both VAT and tax on profit be made more balanced in line with other forms of gambling in the UK. The chancellor gave it back in one hand and then quickly snatched it back again with the other, leaving bingo halls feeling more than little mistreated.

The Rank organisation believes that the new taxation on bingo and poker will see the company’s figures for the previous year down by an estimated £6million. Rank has seen the popularity of poker rise meteorically since the introduction of televised games and exposure in popular culture. Rank offer card games in 22 of the 33 casinos that they own, and were hoping that the popularity of the game would carry on increasing. However the latest news from the Treasury is expected to drive poker into premises that are not legitimate and unregulated.