Rank Group puts UK Budget machine duty rise at £9m a year

The Rank Group has put the annual cost of the UK Budget’s increase in Machine Games Duty (MGD) at about £9m, before any action it takes to offset it.

The UK Autumn Budget 2026, announced on 28 October, raises MGD from 20% to 25% from 1 April 2027. Because the change starts partway through Rank’s financial year, duty costs for the year ending 30 June 2027 will rise by about £2m.

Guidance unchanged for now

Rank, which runs Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca bingo clubs, said it remains confident of delivering like-for-like operating profit in line with expectations for the current year. It will give a fuller update on the impact of the Budget, and the steps it plans to take in response, when it reports interim results for the six months to 31 December 2026 on 28 January 2027.

Rank is the second large UK land-based operator to quantify the change. Entain said the same duty rise would cost its betting shops about £25m a year.