UK gambling operators will pay more tax on their online casino revenue starting next October, but the increase wasn’t as steep as some operators had feared.

On Monday, UK Chancellor Philip Hammond previewed his Autumn Budget 2018 for the House of Commons, which included hikes in online gambling taxes to offset the long-promised reduction in maximum wagers on the fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) in UK betting shops from £100 to just £2.

Hammond (pictured) said the Remote Gaming Duty (RGD), a tax applied to online casino revenue that’s different from the duty imposed on online sports betting, will rise from its current rate of 15% to 21% effective October 1, 2019.

The UK government had made clear its intentions to raise the RGD in order to offset the reduced tax revenue the government will reap via the FOBT stake cut. Hammond repeated this rationale in delivering Monday’s budget preview to parliament.