Electronic gambling (‘slot’) machines are a key component of the global gambling industry. We introduce a theoretical framework which shows that under reasonable assumptions, shifting from a per‐machine licence fee to a gross profits tax (GPT) on machine revenue can help to resolve policy tensions between industry profitability, economic growth and government revenue. We test the theory using data on recent changes to gambling taxation in the UK, in particular the move to a gross profits‐based Machine Games Duty (MGD). Our results reveal that the shift from licence fees to a revenue‐neutral MGD led to a significant increase in the number of machines, as predicted by the theory, and in machine revenue. These results provide useful guidance for all parties involved in the gambling taxation debate, especially those jurisdictions that are considering or are open to a change to their gambling tax system.

中文翻译：

---

对赌博机征税以增加公共和私人收入

电子赌博（“老虎机”）机器是全球赌博业的重要组成部分。我们引入了一个理论框架，该框架表明，在合理的假设下，从每台机器的许可费转向机器收入的毛利税 (GPT) 有助于解决行业盈利能力、经济增长和政府收入之间的政策紧张局势。我们使用有关英国赌博税收最近变化的数据来测试该理论，特别是转向基于毛利润的机器游戏税 (MGD)。我们的结果表明，从许可费用到收入中性 MGD 的转变导致机器数量和机器收入的显着增加，正如理论所预测的那样。这些结果为参与赌博税收辩论的所有各方提供了有用的指导，