The high court ruling won by Mecca Bingo to have the VAT returned to their company will have an impact on every licensed bingo club in the country. Gala Bingo, Buckingham Bingo and Top Ten Bingo have all been reported to have had financial difficulties over the past year and are holding heavy debts with the banks.

The Positions of the major bingo organisations who hold these debts have been using the VAT reclaim as a way of stalling the banks until the millions of pounds that are held by the treasury returned to the industry. The knock on effect although encouraging for the bingo industry could mean the banks will ask for the repayment of the tax be paid straight back to reduce the debt deficit and since the tax rules have been changed that could spell future difficult trading conditions, the banks are likely to refuse to lend any more money for further investment.

If and when the VAT overpayment is returned to the industry, for some companies this will not be enough to cover the debts that are owed to the bank and will not stabilise the trading conditions of bingo clubs. Now the recent tax rulings to bingo duty have changed, the bingo industry could be actually in a more precarious position than it was before the budget.

It is believed that one of the major bingo organisations have informed their managers to reduce the floats and the stock holding in the bingo clubs as it aims to make more repayments to the bank to reduce the debt levels.

Lobbying MPs are likely to continue in attempts to get the level of GPT that was set at 22 percent in the recent budget reduced back down to 15 percent in line with the rest of the gaming industry.