BHA and MPs Unite in Urgent Call For Action on Betting Tax Proposals

[Wandering Eyes]

LONDON, UK — On the eve of Royal Ascot, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Racing and Bloodstock (APPG) has delivered a stark warning regarding the sport's future in Britain, which it fears “risks being tipped into terminal decline”.

At a launch in Westminster in the shadow of the British government's seat of power, MPs Dan Carden and Nick Timothy, co-chairs of the APPG, delivered a report demanding urgent action to stave off the threat from a “triple whammy of challenges that represent no less than an existential threat to the sport”.

Entitled Securing Racing's Future: The Threat to British Horseracing, the report highlights the potential damage to racing's financial structure from the proposed harmonisation of gambling duties as well as affordability checks on punters, which it claims has already led to a £1.6bn fall in betting turnover on racing. It also highlights the need to reform the Levy to include bets placed domestically on overseas racing, as is the norm in other major racing jurisdictions. 

The proposed unified Remote Betting and Gaming Duty across sports betting, pool betting, and online casinos and slots is likely to be close to the current 21 per cent rate for the latter. Currently, the tax on sports and pool betting is 15 per cent. This has prompted fears of a loss of more than £40m per year to operators, which would in turn affect the revenue flow to areas such as prize-money and equine welfare via the Levy.

Described in the report as “a national institution woven into the fabric of our culture”, racing is the second-largest spectator sport in the country. Thoroughbred racing and breeding and their subsidiary businesses have been assessed to contribute more than £4bn annually to the British economy, supporting around 85,000 jobs, many of which are in small, rural communities. Polling undertaken for the report found that 53 per cent of the public consider horseracing to be an important part of British culture, while 56 per cent support the implementation of a law requiring greater reinvestment into British racing. 

With the backing and assistance of the British Horseracing Authority, Carden and Timothy are urging their colleagues in government to consider also the “Millions of pounds of international investment…drawn in from key trading markets by the world-leading standards of care, science and animal welfare found at British stud farms and training yards.” 

At Tattersalls alone last year, in the heart of Timothy's West Suffolk constituency, more than £450m was traded on bloodstock.

He said, “Horseracing is one of the crown jewels of British sport and culture. Newmarket, in my constituency, is the centre of racing and breeding in Britain. Some of the most important racing operations in the world are based in Suffolk, and these businesses invest huge sums of money into the local economy.

“This is a story we could tell across the country, from rural villages to towns like Cheltenham and Doncaster, where horseracing is part of the social fabric and has been for centuries.

“The public recognise this. Nobody will forgive ministers if their decisions lead to the decline of the nation's second-biggest spectator sport. The time for warm words has ended – we now demand action. The government must listen to the public and take immediate measures to secure the future of horseracing in Britain.”

Carden's Liverpool Walton constituency is home to the Grand National, the most gambled-on race of the year in Britain. 

“The message from this report is clear: British racing needs this Labour government to be on its side,” Carden said. “Racing is part of our national story, and its enjoyment and support extends all the way from rural to urban working class communities. 

“I'm calling on the government to listen and to act in order to secure a fair funding model, protect jobs and allow horseracing to thrive for future generations.”

He added, “Hopefully this campaign will grow. The people who rely on horseracing for their livelihoods and for their passion are speaking out and making sure the government is listening. I'm a Labour MP and I want my government to do the right thing and to back British racing for the future.”

Among those in London for the presentation were trainer John Gosden and his wife, former ROA president and Newmarket town councillor Rachel Hood, Epsom-based trainer Jim Boyle, Jockey Club senior steward Dido Harding, National Trainers Federation chief executive Paul Johnson, and Martin Cruddace, CEO of Arena Racing Company.

Johnson told the gathering, “Racehorse trainers employ thousands of people across the country and they are 15 per cent fewer in number than they were 10 years ago. If I spoke to them about where their businesses are going around half of them would say that their businesses are vulnerable. So, the triple whammy that we are looking at today is potentially going to have far-reaching consequences for the whole sport, because we need those people to be doing what they are doing for the sport and for their local communities.”

Gosden referred to his frustration of previous meetings with the government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). He said, “I tried to impress upon them the enormous international investment in the breeding industry – people forget about that – but the thousands of millions of pounds invested in the development of the stud farms, the stallions, the bloodstock that has been brought to this country to cause us to have the highest standard of Flat racing horses on the turf.”

He added, “Here we have a gene pool of the Thoroughbred which is far superior to anything else in the world and yet we are about to blow it down the river. What makes me beyond angry is that it is never grasped how important this is internationally.”

Timothy, who described the issue of tax harmonisation as a “mad proposal”, spoke of renewed efforts to argue racing's case at this highest level. 

He said, “It's definitely the case that there is a lot more energy around the industry in parliament, and with the BHA and the All-Party Parliamentary Group, in trying to get these issues to the top of the agenda and to try to make the arguments we need to get our way with government.

“It has to be the case that the government is on the side of the second-most popular spectator sport in the country. It's hugely important economically, socially and culturally.”

 

The post BHA and MPs Unite in Urgent Call For Action on Betting Tax Proposals appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article