As expected, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s plans to move against the retail betting and gaming industries by removing the Aim to Permit rule have prompted a lot of discussion.

It hasn’t even been a week since Burnham took to X to call out vape shops,  betting and “dodgy businesses”. The PM wants to give “local people and councils more control” over what opens on the high street. 

But the PM was wrong in his statement regarding “the rise of betting shops”. Vape shops? He’s absolutely correct. A Health Equity North study in 2025 showed that their presence had risen by nearly 1,200% between 2015-2025. 

However, it’s been the opposite for betting shops in what has been a period of regulatory uncertainty. According to the UK’s Gambling Commission, there were 8,234 types of gambling establishments on the UK high street as of 31 March 2025, down from 12,207 in 2011. 

The outlier is adult gaming centres (AGCs). From 2022, the number of AGCs on the high street has gradually increased, rising from 1,351 to 1,415. 

But bookmakers are worried about whether Burnham truly knows the difference between an AGC and a licensed betting office (LBO). 

Is Burnham making the right distinctions?

“I absolutely believe that number 10 does not appreciate the distinction between a betting shop and an AGC,” Jennings Bet’s Chief Executive Officer, Greg Knight, told SBC News. 

“To them, they are all clumped together as gambling venues. I actually believe what the PM  was referring to was the clustering of AGCs.”

While Knight, whose company recently passed the 200 active shops mark, believes that the plans will not be a “major blow”, he did say that it would “severely curtail organic expansion”. 

For a retail-only operator like Jennings Bet, the scrapping of Aim to Permit could have much more of a negative impact. 

Knight was optimistic that Jennings Bet could still “highlight the benefits” its shops bring to local areas, but did express concerns about the future of the gambling landscape in the UK, particularly given the Social Market Foundation’s (SMF) proposal to double Machine Games Duty from 20% to 40%.

He continued: “Obviously, the upcoming budget and the noise around Machine Gaming Duty is a big concern.

“Whilst I’m not overly concerned about the scrapping of Aim to Permit, I am concerned by the language the PM used which suggests we have an anti-gambling Government in power now.”

Rank Group “proud” of its offering

It was not doomsday in the view of Rank Group CEO, Richard Harris, either, though in the company’s earnings call, he was quick to reiterate how “proud” Rank Group is of what it does. 

Harris did emphasise a mentality of “just getting on with it”, saying that the company will “just have to get used to operating in difficult environments. 

When asked about Burnham’s decision on Aim to Permit, Harris said: “Crikey, where to start? Aim to permit doesn’t impact our casinos and bingo halls. 

“We’re not really in a position where we’re looking to open new bingo halls, so for existing licenses, existing venues, it doesn’t have any impact. It predominantly impacts AGCs and betting shops more than it would do for us. 

“I think we’re proud of what we do, we think our venues are at the heart of the towns and towns and cities across the country in which we operate, we think they’re community assets. 

“They provide a high level of gambling supervision, we try to look after our customers really, really well and that’s the game that we’re in, and we’ll continue to offer them the best entertainment, the best fun that we possibly can. 

“There’s not much I can do about external factors, but I think what you should understand from our perspective is that we’re trying to provide the best proposition, the best enjoyment in the safest environments, and we’ll continue to do that.”

Entain’s David warns Government to be cautious

There were concerns about the distinctions, if any, that Burnham had made between AGCs and LBOs for Entain CEO Stella David, too. 

David and Entain have been spearheading campaigns for the government to clamp down on the unlicensed gambling market in the UK rather than going after regulated businesses. 

Calls against black market sponsorship deals have gained particular traction, as did David’s warnings following the tax increases announced in the November Budget last year. 

On the Aim to Permit plans, Business Matters Magazine reported that David warned Burnham to “be very careful not to bundle our great traditional betting shops” with AGCs, which have a “very different style and tone”. 

In Entain’s earnings call last week, executives explained how the company, which owns what David described “the best UK estate on the high street” via its Ladbrokes and Coral brands, was mitigating the impact of tax increases already implemented before Burnham became PM.

Chief Financial Officer, Michael Snape, commented: “The tax obviously steps up in the second half of the year, and that’s created a huge amount of disruption in the UK market, which we’ve been taking advantage of. 

“We’re gaining market share, we’re growing really nicely, but you can’t predict what that competitive environment looks like in the second half of the year, so that’s why we’ve taken a more balanced view. 

“We don’t think we’re being overly conservative – we think that [our full-year expectations] represents our best estimate about where we’re going to come in.”

So, for operators with a sizable presence on UK high streets, there don’t seem to be major concerns around Burnham looking to scrap the Aim to Permit rule – in fact, it is almost like they expected it. 

What worries these bookmakers is uncertainty. 

With his plans to scrap Aim to Permit as well as increase business rates on “anti-social” businesses to help pay for a rate cut on pubs, clubs and music venues, is Burnham just targeting AGCs, or will he go for betting shops too? 

While the PM’s announcements are yet to be revealed in full detail, the plan for licensed UK operators will surely be to make sure that these differences are clear to the government. 

However, if Burnham thinks that the presence of betting shops in the UK is on the rise, it may be a tough ordeal for operators to escape further strict regulations imposed on them.