British horse racing to go on strike over betting tax rise

Times

a day ago

British racing will take the unprecedented step of going on strike next month, cancelling all meets for a day in protest at the proposed rise to betting tax.
Four events due to be staged on September 10 at Carlisle, Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, and Kempton and Lingfield Park in Surrey are to be scrapped.
The first voluntary racing blackout in the sport's modern history is expected to cost the industry about £700,000.
The chosen day is just before the start of the St Leger Festival at Doncaster, which prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria attended last year.
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is campaigning against the Treasury's proposal to raise the 15 per cent tax paid by bookmakers on profits from racing and other sports bets placed in the UK to 21 per cent — the same level due on online slot and casino games.
The sport is heavily dependent on the separate horseracing betting levy of 10 per cent paid by bookmakers on annual gross profits on racing wagers, which amounted to £108 million paid back into the industry in 2024-25. Industry bosses have warned that the government reforms could have catastrophic consequences.
Jim Mullen, the chief executive of the Jockey Club, which owns the Kempton and Carlisle racecourses, warned the tax rise would cause 'irreparable damage that threatens a sport the nation is, and should be, proud of'.
Industry experts say bookmakers are likely to seek to offset the impact of a tax hike by increasing prices, cutting bonuses and reducing advertising and marketing budgets while further promoting online gaming, which has lower overheads and fixed margins.
Economic analysis commissioned by the BHA estimated the proposed 21 per cent tax rate would cause a £330 million loss in revenue to the industry in its first five years and put 2,752 jobs at risk in the first year alone. The nation's second-largest spectator sport is worth £4.1 billion to the UK economy, supports 85,000 jobs, and is attended by almost five million people a year.
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Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, has backed a separate plan proposed by the Institute for Public Policy Research to raise some betting taxes, including the duty on online casinos, from 21 per cent to 50 per cent. He said the moves would raise £3.2 billion a year, which could be used to lift welfare restrictions such as the two-child benefits cap.
The collective decision to stop racing on September 10 is recognition of what the sport's differing factions regard as an existential threat.
Race meetings in Britain usually take place on 363 days a year, with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the exceptions. Although meetings have regularly been rescheduled due to adverse weather, and crises such as the equine virus outbreak and the Covid-19 pandemic have caused racing to be suspended in the past, this will be the first time in history the sport has decided to strike.
The races will be rescheduled but the action, forecast to cost £500,000 in media rights and £200,000 in levy income, is designed to underline to the government the importance of betting revenue to the sport's health. Owners, trainers and jockeys will instead join racing leaders and MPs for a campaign event in Westminster.
Mullen said: 'Our sport has come together today, and by cancelling racing fixtures, we hope the government will take a moment to reflect on the harm this tax will cause to a sport in which our country leads in so many ways.'
Martin Cruddace, chief executive of Arena Racing Company, which owns Lingfield and Uttoxeter racecourses, described the threat of the tax as 'existential' to the sport.
'Unlike online casino games, British horseracing makes an enormous contribution to society and employment, has vastly different rates of gambling-related harm and is not available every ten seconds, 24 hours a day,' he said.
'We have always been taxed and regulated differently, and it is imperative for our future that we continue to be so. If the government wants Britain to be a world leader in online [casinos] and a world pauper in a sport at the heart of its culture, then tax harmonisation will achieve that aim.'
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Brant Dunshea, chief executive of the BHA, said: 'British racing is already in a precarious financial position and research has shown that a tax rise on racing could be catastrophic for the sport and the thousands of jobs that rely on it in towns and communities across the country.
'We haven't taken this decision lightly but in doing so we are urging the government to rethink this tax proposal to protect the future of our sport which is a cherished part of Britain's heritage and culture.
'Our message to government is clear: axe the racing tax and back British racing.'
The Treasury argued in a consultation paper in April that a single duty would 'provide tax certainty and increase simplification for remote gambling'.