Scottish Greens pledge to tax betting companies and ban sports gambling sponsorships
The Scottish Green Party, otherwise known as the Scottish Greens, have launched their 2026 manifesto ahead of the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections. Among a host of electoral pledges are three particularly notable inclusions in regard to Scotland’s gambling industry.
An additional tax on gambling companies
In the section of the manifesto detailing Scotland’s finances, the party stated that, if elected, it intends to add surcharges through non-domestic rates to businesses which it considers to cause harm to Scotland’s environment and communities.
It said that this would be done to raise funds which would be used to reinvest in public health measures and local economies.
The party listed a number of proposed surcharges, including one which would apply to the gambling industry. It said that casinos, bookies, and other gambling venues would be made to pay toward the cost of addiction prevention, recovery, and support services.
Speaking about this proposal, Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay said that the Green Party’s plan is about “putting responsibility back where it belongs”. She commented that companies should not be able to walk away from the social cost, and added that companies helping to pay for the response to addiction and harm is “a matter of basic fairness”.
Mackay remarked that this principle is already accepted in other areas, as she referred to the tobacco industry and how tobacco products are taxed so that the money generated can help to support relevant services.
Looking at relevant, recent developments in the UK, reactions to an increase in the UK Remote Gaming Duty have been mixed. Concerns have notably been expressed with regard to the black market and its potential unintended expansion. The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) have argued that tax increases on the regulated sector make it more difficult for licensed operators to compete with illegal sites.
Ban on gambling sports sponsorships
In the final chapter of the 164-page document, which is the chapter going over Scotland’s sports sector, the Scottish Greens make their second and third gambling-focused electoral pledges.
Here, the party proposes a new taxation on sports betting, which it said would be intended “to ensure that a proportion of all sports betting is reinvested into grassroots sport”. It then follows up with the additional pledge to ban “health-harming industries, such as alcohol and gambling”, from being able to sponsor sport.
The two most popular football clubs in Scotland both have gambling sponsorships displayed on the front of their football jerseys. Rangers FC is sponsored by Unibet, while Celtic FC is sponsored by Dafabet. William Hill also sponsors the Scottish Professional Football League.
Looking at the situation in the English Premier League with regard to gambling sponsorships, several clubs in the top flight of English football are facing difficulties with securing sponsorships to replace the outgoing deals as a result of an agreement with the UK government to remove gambling sponsorships from the front of football jerseys.
According to the Guardian, a senior club executive said that “nearly everyone is losing money” as a result of this change. Aside from several teams experiencing difficulty in finding sponsorship replacements, those teams which have found new deals have reportedly done so with considerably lower contract values.
Upcoming election
Several polls have predicted that the Scottish Green Party will gain seats in the upcoming election on 7 May, with the party proving to be particularly popular among younger voters.
Due to the nature of the Scottish Parliament’s makeup, it is not entirely improbable that the party may be able to impose real legislative influence, but a push for policies of this nature would require considerable parliamentary backing.
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