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The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Horse racing to go on strike in protest against government's planned betting tax rise
All scheduled racing in Britain on 10 September will be cancelled and the sport will, in effect, go on strike, as racing escalates its protests against a Treasury proposal to align the rate of duty charged on sports betting with the rate for much more addictive games of pure chance such as roulette and online slot machines. The move to abandon meetings at Uttoxeter, Lingfield, Kempton and Carlisle is expected to result in the loss of around £700k to the industry. The action has been agreed following co-operation between Jockey Club Racecourses, which operates Kempton and Carlisle; Arena Racing Company, the operator of Uttoxeter and Lingfield; and the British Horseracing Authority, the sport's ruling body. Gambling on games of chance is currently taxed at 21% of an operator's gross profits, while the duty on betting – on racing, sports and other events without a fixed profit margin for the operator – is set at 15%. There is an additional charge of 10%pc of gross profits for bets on UK racing for the statutory Levy, which has returned money to racing since off-course betting was legalised in the early 1960s. The proposal to equalise the duty rate for betting and gaming products was initially floated by the Treasury in the final months of Rishi Sunak's Conservative government, but it survived the transition to a Labour administration and was the subject of a consultation process which closed in July. Betting and gaming have been treated separately for taxation purposes since the Betting and Gaming Act came into force in 1961. There is a widespread belief in racing that a levelling of the duty rates will make the sport more expensive for gambling operators and as a result, far less attractive when compared to gaming products with a guaranteed return. Alternatives for the tax regime around gambling include a proposal from the Social Market Foundation think tank that gaming duty could be increased to 50% and sports betting to 25%, with changes to the Levy system ensuring that racing would not lose out. The former prime minister, Gordon Brown, has also advocated for a significant rise in the duty charged on fixed-margin gaming products. Launching the British Horseracing Authority's campaign against the tax proposals last month, Brant Dunshea, the BHA's acting chief executive, said that the sport's stakeholders were 'united in their opposition to the Treasury's proposals to harmonise remote gambling duties'. Dunshea added: 'If the Chancellor delivers this tax bombshell at the autumn budget, not only will jobs be lost but the future of Britain's second-largest spectator sport will be in jeopardy. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion 'This is why it is vital that the government carefully considers the argument made by all British racing's stakeholders and works alongside us to protect a cherished national institution.' The races lost on 10 September are expected to be added to other cards scheduled around the same time. The date chosen for the racing 'strike' is 24 hours before the start of the high-profile St Leger meeting at Doncaster, which the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, and his wife, Victoria, a keen racing fan, attended last year.
The Guardian
10-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Cheltenham festival crowds will be down this week for third year running
Cheltenham racecourse has effectively confirmed that crowds at its showpiece meeting will be down for the third year running when the 2025 festival opens on Tuesday, while also suggesting that 'unforgettable days out' for racegoers this year will be the catalyst for a revival in the festival's fortunes from 2026. The overall attendance at last year's Cheltenham festival was 229,999, a drop of 18% on the record attendance of 280,627 in 2022, amid complaints from racegoers about the price of admission, food and drink and accommodation in the local area for spectators attending multiple days. In the weeks running up to this year's meeting, Cheltenham has predicted only that the total attendance would be 'more than 200,000', and in what was described as an 'open letter' to racing fans this weekend, Guy Lavender, the track's chief executive since 1 January, said that 'it's important to mention up front that we are expecting fewer racegoers to be joining us in person this week than in recent years.' Lavender added: 'The decline is not catastrophic but nor are we seeing growing attendances.' While a third straight drop in attendance is disappointing for both Cheltenham and its owner, Jockey Club Racecourses, a series of measures have been introduced from this year with the aim of improving customer experience. The areas in which racegoers can drink alcohol have expanded to include much more of the open standing area in front of the grandstands, while ticket prices were also frozen at last year's level. However, the admission that crowds are still expected to drop suggests that another initiative – offering a ticket for a second day at the meeting from Tuesday to Thursday at a 20% discount to anyone buying a single ticket – has not caught the imagination of racegoers. 'We have heard both anecdotally and directly that the cost of accommodation is impacting attendance,' Lavender said. 'It is a situation we are looking to address directly with Room To Race, launched in partnership with a local sports travel company, to provide more affordable hotel, ticket and travel packages for this festival and beyond.' Another key indicator for most punters at the end of festival week is their profit or loss on the week, and Tuesday's opening day dangles a significant carrot for many backers in the shape of four rock-solid favourites in the card's Grade One events. Kopek Des Bordes, the market leader for the opening Supreme Novcie Hurdle, drifted to 11-10 from evens on Monday in the face of support for Henry de Bromhead's Workahead, the mount of Rachael Blackmore. Majborough (4-7), Lossiemouth (8-11) and Constitution Hill (8-13) all remain odds-on however, implying combined odds for the four-timer with most firms of around 8-1.
