BINGO hall chains such as Bolton-based Buckingham Bingo have been hit by tax rises from Chancellor Alistair Darling’s budget.
Despite VAT on playing bingo and other forms of gaming being scrapped, any gain was more than wiped out by a rise in bingo duty from 15 per cent to 22 per cent.
The hard-pressed industry was badly affected by the smoking ban and now has to cope with another change which will cost it millions.
Buckingham Bingo wrote off more than £69 million worth of investment last year as the group sought to restructure its debts.
Buckingham’s parent company, Full House Holdings Ltd, posted a loss of £88.7 million on a reduced turnover of £33.4 million in the year to the end of March, 2008, compared with a £10 million loss on sales of £46.9 million during the 12 months to the end of March, 2007.
The company blamed its troubles on the introduction of the smoking ban in July, 2007.
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