The UK gambling sector won an extra £1bn from punters in the year to March, according to new data expected to buoy calls for the chancellor to raise betting taxes in Wednesday’s budget.

Betting companies made £12.6bn from services excluding lotteries in latest 12-month reporting period, the Gambling Commission revealed on Tuesday , marking a 9.3% rise on the £11.5bn the industry won during the previous year.

The numbers were inflated by an almost 15% increase in winnings from online casino players, which rose to £5.0bn from £4.4bn during the prior period. The £5bn of online casino game winnings are now 55% higher than at the start of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. UK gambling firms spent ‘astronomic’ £2bn on advertising last year Read more

Online casino games have been criticised for

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