Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed operator Rank Group’s appeal against a Court of Appeal decision regarding VAT it was ordered to pay to HM Revenue and Customs on its takings from certain slot machines between 2002 and 2005.

The dispute centred on whether the machines were subject to VAT, and the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of HM Revenue and Customs in 2013, overturning previous rulings in favour of Rank from the VAT and Duties tribunal and the High Court. Rank appealed the Court of Appeal’s decision.

Explaining the reasoning behind its ruling, the Supreme Court said: “The natural meaning of ‘machine’ in context supports the Court of Appeal’s approach."

Rank said in response to the ruling: “Rank repaid £25.2m (in May 2014) of the £30.7m received in connection with these claims to HMRC and fully provided for the remainder.”