The Treasury wants to lift the levy for punts on the gee-gees from 15 to 21 per centAny new rate would be announced in a .
It would be applied to , regardless of where they are laid, and comes as punters increasingly use mobile devices to place wagers.
She said a new rise, so soon after a White Paper which cost the sector more than a billion pounds, “will not raise more money for the Treasury”;.
She said it was likely to force firms to push investment and jobs overseas.
Punters, she added, would turn to the black market online which pays no tax and has no safer gambling protections.
The Treasury insisted the changes would not affect high street bookies and bingo halls and cut red tape for firms by reducing the number of returns they have to make.
It said no exact rates had yet been decided.
