Latest news with #bettingtax
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
I asked the Queen to help save horse racing
Long after the Queen's departure, gratitude for her support was mixed with real anger at the predicament facing racing and the tens of thousands of jobs that rely on it. And the similarities with the bleak future of farmers are very obvious to the Hexham stalwarts. Both industries are viewed with the same cultural disdain by this government. The unpredictability of what they are going to be beaten with next has become Trump-like. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) was understandably not on a war footing to push back against the Government's consultations to raise betting tax on horse racing. Only last week it was in a rush to appoint a PR company to help get its message across, which some would say is six months too late. But the BHA can be forgiven for assuming that Baroness Twycross, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) minister, would understand the difference between casino games on smartphones and betting on racing. The former is highly addictive and mindless, the latter has been around for hundreds of years and provides a lot of jobs and a fair chunk of change to the Treasury. If Baroness Twycross really does not get that, she should talk to Dan Carden, the Labour MP who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Racing and Bloodstock. He recognises that racing gives this country 'a unique diplomatic edge'. A point that we also made to the Queen last week. She was too polite to reply that she was well aware of that! He is also on record as saying that 'ministers need to listen to racing' because 'recent government interventions have hindered, not helped'. Of course the monarchy can never be seen to be meddling in politics, although there was a suspicion that our late Queen Elizabeth II might have 'had a word' with the odd prime minister from time to time to advance racing's cause. One can only hope that Queen Camilla might be able to remind Sir Keir Starmer of the importance of horse racing to rural employment and the soft power of UK plc, should the PM cop an invitation to a barbecue at Balmoral this summer.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Flutter weighs Illinois tax impact
Paddy Power owner Flutter is weighing how it will react to a betting tax imposed by state legislators in Illinois in the US. The US state's budget includes a 25 cents tax on every individual bet taken up to the first 20 million wagers, and 50 cents each past that point. Dublin-based Flutter's biggest subsidiary is Fanduel in the US, which has been expanding as individual states legalise sports betting. Speaking after its annual general meeting in Dublin on Thursday, Peter Jackson, chief executive, said that it would 'figure out' how to react and whether to pass the charge on to customers. READ MORE He noted that betting was not the only industry affected. Analysts speculate that it could cost Flutter tens of millions of dollars. Maryland is increasing its betting tax to 20 per cent from 15 per cent this month while other states are also considering raising their levies. The company moved its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange last year, exiting the Dublin Euronext market at the same time. Mr Jackson said that the group was very pleased with the outcome despite reports that the volatility sparked by president Donald Trump's frequent policy shifts had put some investors off the US market. He added that there had been a 'step up' in liquidity there. Mr Jackson did not comment on the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission's recent announcement that it had begun an investigation of the betting industry. That move included dawn raids on business offices by commission staff, accompanied by Gardaí. Flutter last month cautioned that a run of sports results favouring customers could affect US profits this year. Mr Jackson stressed that Flutter was comfortable with the odds it offered customers, which ultimately determine its risk. 'We're very confident in our pricing,' he said. Flutter has businesses in the Republic, UK, Europe, the Americas and Australia.
