Tax changes ‘threaten future of horse racing'

The future of British horse racing is at risk unless the government urgently rethinks new gambling policies, according to a cross-party parliamentary group.
In a report released on Sunday night, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Racing and Bloodstock warned that a combination of tax changes, strict affordability checks designed to stop problem gambling and a failure to reform racing's main funding system could cause lasting damage to one of the UK's most popular sports.
The APPG, made up of MPs and peers, is not a parliamentary select committee. All funding comes from within the racing industry, with the British Horseracing Authority leading on organisation as the secretariat.
Racegoers at Aintree during Grand National week this year
MICHAEL STEELE/GETTY IMAGES
Horse racing supports more than 85,000 jobs and contributes in excess of £4 billion a year to the economy, according to a House of Commons Library report. It is Britain's second largest spectator sport after football, with high-profile events such as Royal Ascot this week.
In April, the Treasury launched a consultation process calling for stakeholders in the sport betting sector to submit their views on how best to consolidate the current three-tier system for remote gambling to create a single tax, called the Remote Betting and Gaming Duty.
Betting companies currently pay different tax rates: the Remote Gaming Duty, set at 21 per cent of operator gross profits; the General Betting Duty, which is set at 15 per cent; and the Pool Betting Duty at 15 per cent of net stake receipts.
The consultation process runs for 12 weeks until July 21.
The APPG claims this could raise the cost of betting on racing, pushing gambling firms toward more profitable, but riskier, online games such as slots and roulette, potentially meaning less investment in racing and a push away from a relatively low-risk form of gambling.
Racing gets a chunk of funding from a special tax called the Horserace Betting Levy so some betting profits are reinvested in the sport, but the APPG says the government has not updated it, so it is not keeping up with what other countries give their racing industries.
Dan Carden, Labour MP for Liverpool Walton and co-chair of the APPG, said: 'The message from this report is clear: British racing needs this Labour government to be on its side. Racing is part of our national story and its enjoyment and support extends all the way from rural to urban working-class communities.'
Brant Dunshea, chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority, said: 'The cultural, social and economic value of racing is huge for towns and rural areas across Britain. It is those communities that will suffer the job losses, the decline in community pride and the loss of identity that will come if racing is allowed to fail.'
A government spokesman said: 'We recognise the huge importance of horse racing to the British sporting calendar and the significant contribution it makes to the economy every year.
'We have recently launched a consultation on the tax treatment of remote gambling and are actively engaging with the sector, so are grateful to the APPG for their contributions and will consider the report fully.'

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