Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch Hears Racing’s Fears of ‘Dire Trouble’ from Betting Tax Rises

[Wandering Eyes]

NEWMARKET, UK — Kemi Badenoch MP has spoken of the importance of British racing remaining an “international beacon” during a briefing with industry stakeholders at Tattersalls on Friday.

The Leader of the Opposition, Badenoch, along with Shadow Ministers from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Stuart Andrew MP and Louie French MP, joined a Newmarket horseracing policy conference organised by the Jockey Club and the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

“The most important thing is that horseracing stays here and continues to thrive here – that we are an international beacon,” Badenoch said after listening to John Gosden speak about the growth of the racing and breeding industry since the early 1980s following a fallow time in Newmarket.

“The breeding industry is the whole bedrock of the racing industry, and what happened from 1980 onwards, there came massive investment here, particularly from the Middle East – from the United Arab Emirates and from Saudi Arabia – and they set up stud farms here. And when you had a good horse, a stallion prospect, they stayed here,” Gosden explained. 

“And when you do that, all the best broodmares then come to those stallions, and that has made the breeding industry here, in Britain and Ireland, the best in the world for turf racing.

“Consequently, where we are standing has become a great clearing house. There are only two great clearing houses in the northern hemisphere, one in Keeneland, in America, and the other one is right here. So if you are here during the sales you will see people of every nationality – from Australasia, the Far East, Hong Kong, America, South America – they are all here trading.”

The most imminent threat to British racing comes from a government proposal to harmonise betting duties so that tax on sports betting, including racing, would be raised to the same level of tax imposed on online casinos and slot machines – from 15 per cent to 21 per cent. On the Monday of Royal Ascot week the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Racing and Breeding delivered a report which will be submitted to government ahead of the end of the consultation period on July 21.

Entitled Securing Racing's Future: The Threat to British Horseracing, the report highlights the potential damage to racing's financial structure from the harmonisation proposal 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 points to the need for Levy reform to include bets placed domestically on overseas racing, as is the norm in other major racing jurisdictions.

The delegation of politicians agreed to meet members of the racing community to listen to the issues affecting the sport as part of the Conservative Party's policy renewal as it seeks to rebuild after losing last year's general election to Labour. 

Gosden was joined by fellow trainers Stuart Williams, Simon Crisford, James Fanshawe, Alice Haynes, James Ferguson, Roger Varian and William Haggas. Leaders of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association, Racehorse Owners Association, and National Association of Stable Staff were also present, along with Jim Mullen, the new CEO of the Jockey Club, and representatives from various major stud farms, racecourses and Weatherbys. 

Welcoming Badenoch and her colleagues, the Jockey Club's Senior Steward Dido Harding said, “Racing clearly matters here in Newmarket but it matters for the country as well. Firstly, we are a hugely popular sport – the second-most attended sport in the country with 4 million people a year going racing.  

“There is also huge economic impact – 85,000 people work in the racing industry across the country. The economists would call Newmarket an economic cluster. You have every element of the racing and breeding industry represented in this town and that drives economic growth. It's in the order of £260 million that comes into this part of the east of England courtesy of the racing and breeding industry. That's a huge economic impact in a rural area and that is replicated across the country in other parts of the racing industry.”

The BHA is urging all industry participants to get behind its 'Axe the Tax' campaign to persuade government to consider betting on horseracing independently amid fears that the sport could be hit by the loss of £66m in income.

Speaking at Friday's conference, trainer Stuart Williams told Badenoch, “The British racing industry is a world leader in that we export horses all over the world. There are only two forms of funding – one is through the owners, and breeders are mostly owners as well, and the other one is through the punters. We are the only country in the world which runs a system where most of the profits go to the bookmakers and not back to the participants in racing.”

He added, “The Levy deal is hugely important to us and we are in a stage now where the major betting operators are American-based casinos and they are not interested in British racing. They are using it as a gateway to get people in to bet on these addictive casinos. This upcoming tax will be the absolute death of all of this, the whole lot will crumble if we get lumped in with the casinos. 

“You can see the direction of travel and the agenda is that betting is the new smoking, and the government is going after it with a passion. And if we can't distinguish ourselves as a game of skill, against the addictive casino-based games of chance where the house always wins, we are in dire trouble. It's imminent and it needs to be addressed right now.”

Closing the conference, Newmarket's MP Nick Timothy said after the leader of his party had departed, “It is really conspicuous that Kemi Badenoch chose to come here today. She hasn't done that with any other sport.”

 

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