Fears of jobs being axed and racecourses closing if levies hit the industry
The industry fears being stung for £66 million with communities ripped apart if horse racing doesn't receive an exemption from increased levies.
1
Racing's finances will be brutally damaged if the current 15 per cent duty rate is harmonised with online casino-style games, which currently stands at 21 per cent.
Tory MP Nick Timothy, who represents Newmarket, said: 'Racing is part of who we are.
"It is an essential part of our national sporting story. It is vital that the Government recognises that.
'Without an exemption for horseracing from the harmonisation plans, Britain's second-largest spectator sport and a cherished part of the social fabric of our communities will suffer great harm.'
A consultation closed yesterday on how to consolidate a three-tier system into a single tax for online gambling called the Remote Betting and Gaming Duty.
The warning shot to Chancellor Rachel Reeves from the industry is fired ahead of Glorious Goodwood meeting which kicks off a week today.
The sector supports more than 85,000 jobs and contributes more than £4 billion to the economy, research shows.
Meanwhile, a new survey has found that almost a third of punters would switch to the gambling black market if the tax hike forced legal operators to withdraw offers and promotions.
The illegal operators can offer better odds as they don't have to pay the tax or support the sport.
Betting and Gaming Council boss Grainne Hurst said: 'Punters are clear, get the balance on tax and regulation wrong and you hand a competitive advantage to the black market where operators pay no tax, contribute nothing to British sport, and offer no safer gambling protections.
'The gambling black market is growing and actively targeting UK customers.
"Any tax rise, whether on betting or gaming, makes that offer more attractive and puts more players at risk. Any tax hike would be catastrophic.
'This would put thousands of jobs and millions in investment at risk, while threatening the future of all sports that rely on regulated betting for funding – from racing and football to rugby league, darts and snooker.'
Meanwhile, Brant Dunshea, chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority, said: 'If the Government goes ahead with this smash-and-grab tax raid it will have a disastrous impact on the cherished national institution that is British horseracing.
'As we gear up for one of the biggest weeks in our calendar the Government simply must understand that its proposed tax bombshell will hammer the country's second most watched sport.
'In a worst-case scenario thousands of jobs will be lost, racecourses may have to close and the future of some of our most iconic races will hang in the balance.
'MPs with any kind of racing activity in their constituency should also understand that it is their voters' livelihoods that are at risk if there is any increase in taxes on horserace betting.
'They need to all be getting behind the campaign to axe the racing tax. Or face the consequences at the ballot box. '
A Treasury spokesperson said: 'We are consulting on bringing the treatment of online betting in line with other forms of online gambling to cut down bureaucracy - it is not about increasing or decreasing rates, and we welcome views from all stakeholders including businesses, trade bodies, the third sector and individuals.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 minutes ago
- The Guardian
West Ham's Lucas Paquetá expected to be cleared of spot-fixing over bookings
Lucas Paquetá is expected to be found not guilty in relation to spot-fixing charges. The West Ham player was charged by the Football Association with four counts of being deliberately booked to influence betting markets and two of failing to cooperate with its investigation. The charges were announced in May 2024 after a 10-month investigation. The Brazilian could have faced up to a life ban if he were found guilty in one of the most high-profile cases the FA have brought. The FA had been looking into allegations that Paquetá deliberately picked up yellow cards against Leicester, Aston Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth in 2022 and 2023 and alleged that he 'directly sought to influence […] these matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee, for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market in order for one or more persons to profit from betting'. About 60 bets were placed on Paquetá to be shown a yellow card in those games. A source with knowledge of the FA's investigation said that one of the bets was for £7, with the highest £400. Paquetá denied any wrongdoing. 'I am extremely surprised and upset that the FA has decided to charge me,' he said on Instagram in May last year. 'For nine months, I have cooperated with every step of their investigation and provided all the information I can. I deny the charges in their entirety and will fight with every breath to clear my name.' West Ham said at the time: 'Lucas categorically denies the breach and will continue to robustly defend his position. The club will continue to stand by and support the player throughout the process.' The FA investigation came to light when Paquetá was close to joining Manchester City for about £80m and scuppered his hopes of a move to the then treble-winners. Now 27, he cost West Ham a club-record £51m when he joined from Lyon in August 2022. Paquetá's trial concluded in early June and the player was told he must wait four to eight weeks for a verdict. West Ham were unhappy with that given the disruption it would cause to their summer transfer window, leaving their head coach, Graham Potter, uncertain over whether a key player would be part of his squad next season. A month previously, Potter said the investigation had taken a mental and physical toll on Paquetá. 'In fairness to Lucas I think he's handled it brilliantly,' Potter said. Paquetá's wife, Maria Fournier, wrote on Instagram at about the same time: 'My husband has a posture and a strength that I admire and impresses me. We have been living this nightmare for two years.'
BBC News
2 minutes ago
- BBC News
US president Donald Trump arrives in Scotland for four-day visit
US president Donald Trump said "it's great to be in Scotland" as he landed for a four-day private Air Force One touched down at Prestwick Airport, just before 20:30, the US president was met by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray and Warren Stephens, US Ambassador to the spoke to journalists before the presidential motorcade left for his Turnberry resort, in South Ayrshire, where he is expected to play golf on about Sir Keir Starmer, who he is due to meet on Monday, he said: "I like your prime minister. He's slightly more liberal than I am - as you probably heard - but he's a good man. He got a trade deal done." Trump added: "You know, they've been working on this deal for 12 years, he got it done - that's a good deal, it's a good deal for the UK."The president earlier also described Scotland's First Minister John Swinney as "a good man" and said he was looking forward to meeting has pledged to "essentially speak out for Scotland". The motorcade - which contained more than two dozen vehicles - entered Trump's Turnberry golf resort at about 21:30, flanked by Police Scotland vehicles and ambulance he arrived at the resort, the president's vehicle - known as The Beast - passed a small group of will stay at Turnberry over the weekend before heading to his second property in Aberdeenshire, where he will open a new 18-hole course at Menie."Sean Connery helped get me the permits - if it weren't for Sean Connery we wouldn't have those great courses," he said, referring to the Scottish actor he said helped him get planning permission for the courses. Trump is expected to meet Starmer and Swinney on Monday while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed on X that she will meet the president on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade will travel back to the US on Tuesday and is due to return to the UK for an official state visit in September.A number of protests are expected to be held to coincide with the visit, including demonstrations in Edinburgh and Aberdeen on Saturday. A major security operation has been under way in South Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire this week, ahead of the president's of officers have also been drafted in to support Police Scotland, under mutual aid arrangements, from other UK closures and diversions have been put in place in Turnberry, while a security checkpoint outside the resort and a large fence has been erected around the course.A number of police vans have also been seen at the Menie site. Speaking to journalists at Prestwick, Trump said European countries need to "get your act together" on migration, and "stop the windmills", referring to wind said: "I say two things to Europe: Stop the windmills. You're ruining your countries. I really mean it, it's so sad."You fly over and you see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds, and if they're stuck in the ocean, ruining your oceans."Stop the windmills, and also, I mean, there's a couple of things I could say, but on immigration, you'd better get your act together or you're not going to have Europe anymore."In 2019, his company Trump International lost a long-running court battle to stop a major wind power development being built in the North Sea off Aberdeen. Trump argued that the project, which included 11 wind turbines, would spoil the view from his golf course at Menie. Trump also claimed that illegal migration was an "invasion" which was "killing Europe".He said: "Last month, we (the United States) had nobody entering our country. Nobody. Shut it down. And we took out a lot of bad people that got there with (former US president Joe) Biden."Biden was a total stiff, and what he allowed to happen.... but you're allowing it to happen to your countries, and you've got to stop this horrible invasion that's happening to Europe; many countries in Europe."Some people, some leaders, have not let it happen, and they're not getting the proper credit they should."I could name them to you right now, but I'm not going to embarrass the other ones."But stop: this immigration is killing Europe." Quizzed on the latest developments with the Epstein files and Ghislaine Maxwell's interview with the Department of Justice, Trump said he had "really nothing to say about it"."A lot of people are asking me about pardons obviously - this is no time to be talking about pardons."He said the media was "making a very big thing out of something that's not a big thing".Earlier, Chancellor Rachel Reeves told reporters the US president's visit to Scotland was in the "national interest".Speaking during a visit to the Rolls-Royce factory, near Glasgow Airport, she said: "The work that our Prime Minister Keir Starmer has done in building that relationship with President Trump has meant that we were the first country in the world to secure a trade deal."Reeves added that it had a "tangible benefit" for people in Scotland, from the Scotch whisky industry to the defence sector."Swinney said his meeting with Trump would present an opportunity to "essentially speak out for Scotland" on issues such as trade and the increase of business from the United States in first minister said he would also raise "significant international issues" including "the awfulness of the situation in Gaza".And he urged those set to protest against the president's visit to do so "peacefully and to do so within the law". Visits to Scotland by sitting US presidents are Elizabeth hosted Dwight D Eisenhower at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire in 1957. George W Bush travelled to Gleneagles in Perthshire for a G8 summit in 2005 and Joe Biden attended a climate conference in Glasgow in only other serving president to visit this century is Trump himself in 2018 when he was met by protesters including one flying a paraglider low over Turnberry, breaching the air exclusion zone around the returned in 2023, two-and-a-half years after he was defeated by Biden. Trump does have a genuine link to Gaelic-speaking mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in 1912 on the island of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides and left during the Great Depression for New York where she married property developer Fred son's return to Scotland for four days this summer comes ahead of an official state visit from 17-19 September when the president and First Lady Melania Trump will be hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle in Berkshire.
BBC News
2 minutes ago
- BBC News
FA set to deliver Paqueta verdict
The Football Association is set to formally deliver its verdict in West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta's long-running spot-fixing has been under investigation since August 2023 and was charged by the FA in May 2024 for allegedly getting booked deliberately "for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market".BBC Sport understands that the player and club have now been informed of the governing body's ruling in relation to those accusations, which related to matches during the 2022-23 and 23-24 Premier League hearing over the charges finished towards the end of April this source with knowledge of the situation has told BBC Sport that the final ruling is largely in Paqueta's favour and that the Brazil international is effectively "in the clear".The FA has been seeking a lifetime ban for Paqueta but indications are that scenario has been remains to be seen, however, if there is any level of punishment for Sport has contacted West Ham, the FA and Paqueta's legal team but all have declined to comment. The four charges against him relate to a Premier League game against Leicester City on 12 November 2022, as well as 2023 fixtures against Aston Villa on 12 March, Leeds United on 21 May and Bournemouth on 12 was also charged with two counts of failing to cooperate with the FA's investigation after breaching "FA Rule F3 in respect of alleged failures to comply pursuant to FA Rule F2", which relates to providing information and 27-year-old scored four goals in 33 Premier League appearances for West Ham during in was in tears after being booked against Tottenham in May, with his wife Maria Fournier saying in an Instagram post the same evening that they had "been living this nightmare for two years".After being charged by the FA last year, Paqueta had said he was "extremely surprised and upset" by the charges."For nine months, I have co-operated with every step of their investigation and provided all the information I can. I deny all the charges in their entirety and will fight with every breath to clear my name," he joined the Hammers from Lyon for an initial £36.5m in August 2022 and helped the club win the Europa Conference League during his debut season. Since 2014, FA rules have stated that anyone associated with a club in the top eight tiers of English football cannot bet on any aspect of the sport worldwide. The games in question West Ham 0-2 Leicester - 12 November 2022Paqueta booked for a 'lunge' on Leicester midfielder Boubakary Soumare in the 60th is booked at 1-0 and the match finishes 2-0 to Ham 1-1 Aston Villa - 12 March 2023Paqueta booked for what is described as a 'lunging challenge' on John McGinn in the 70th minute, with the score at Ham 3-1 Leeds United - 21 May 2023Paqueta is booked for pulling back Leeds winger Crysencio Summerville on the counter-attack in the 65th happens at 1-1, with West Ham going on to win Ham 1-1 Bournemouth - 12 August 2023In the opening game of this season, Paqueta is booked for handball in the 94th minute, with the match finishing 1-1.
