The Treasury was today accused of delivering a “slap in the face” to the bingo industry after it ignored calls to remove the double taxation burden on clubs.

The industry had been hoping the Chancellor would remove the anomaly whereby bingo clubs, unlike casinos and betting shops, have to pay both VAT at 17.5 per cent and a gross profits tax of 15 per cent.

Bingo operators had warned the Government that the removal of VAT was necessary to prevent further club closures in an industry already badly hit by last year’s smoking ban and the scrapping of high-payout Section 21 gaming machines.

Paul Talboys, chief executive of the Bingo Association, said: “This is a slap in the face for bingo players across the country. There is no reason why they should continue to be penalised by double taxation when other gambling products pay only a single tax.

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“The industry is struggling to deal with the combined impact of double taxation, the removal of gaming machines and the impact of the smoking ban.”

He added: “In the last 14 months alone some 43 clubs have closed. This lack of action will now ensure further club closures with attendant loss of jobs and decrease in Treasury receipts.”

Ian Burke, chief executive of Rank Group, the owner of Mecca Bingo, pointed out that the Treasury had actually increased the overall tax burden on bingo clubs by imposing an inflationary rise on amusement machine licence duty.

Mecca, which has 102 clubs, paid about £13 million in VAT last year and is forecasting a bill of about £10 million in the current financial year.

Mr Burke said: “It’s deeply disappointing but we will continue to present our case as there is no logic to taxing us twice. They’ve made the wrong economic judgment.”

James Cook, a bingo caller at Mecca’s Fountain Park club in Edinburgh, had set up a petition on the Downing Street website that garnered almost 1,800 signatures and he delivered more than 1,000 letters to his local MP.

The main factor in the Treasury’s intransigence on the matter appears to be the estimated £31 million hit on its coffers from scrapping VAT.

But Rank claims that ignores the impact of the inevitable club closures that will result from the decision to retain the current tax regime.

It claims that each of its Mecca clubs makes a net contribution to the Exchequer and local government of £1 million through corporation tax, National Insurance and business rates in addition to gross profits tax, VAT and machine duty.

Recent studies by the Henley Centre have underlined the precarious position of many clubs, identifying 108 venues across the country as being at risk of closure.

Don Foster, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport, said: “The bingo industry is in crisis. A much loved leisure pursuit for millions of people is close to collapse.

“Despite being one of the softest forms of gambling, it is alone in facing double taxation. Today’s budget could, and should, have resolved the anomaly.”

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