The beginning of September saw an eerie silence at some of Britain’s best-known racetracks. Meetings at Carlisle, Uttoxeter, Lingfield, and Kempton stopped as horse racing professionals all headed for London to make their voices heard. It was the first strike in years of its scale, and it was instigated by changes in taxes, which could shape the future of betting, while also threatening jobs.
The Break in the Racing and the Increasing Tension
The cancellations created a marked gap in the day’s racing calendar. With nothing happening domestically, many punters turned their attention to online betting, where they could seek out other events to gamble on. For some, that meant switching to esports and digital markets through platforms such as those on gambling expert Elliot Law’s review, which shows how to pick the best betting site for esports by looking for rewarding bonus structures, competitively priced odds, and advanced security features, a sign of how diverse modern betting habits have become. The silence across British tracks underlined a building tension between what the government wanted to do with the sport financially and the financial stability of the sport.
The proposed increase would increase the tax on bets from 15% to 21%, bringing it in line with the tax charged for online casino products. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has estimated that, if this works out, this could mean a loss of up to £65 million a year, with potentially devastating effects on prize money, employment in rural communities, and the amount of investment that goes into racecourses.
The September Lobbyists of London
The centre of the protest was the Axe the Racing Tax campaign at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster, within walking distance of Parliament. Some of the most recognisable names in British racing gathered there. Jockeys Holly Doyle and Oisin Murphy joined John Gosden as the trainer and other key representatives in front of the cameras. Many of them emphasised how expensive it was to maintain racing over the operation of digital casinos with higher taxes, which could spell ruin to breeding, training, and local employment related to the sport.
The demonstration was more than symbolic. Around twenty MPs came to hear the industry’s case first-hand, in evidence of the depth of concern in racing circles. Martin Cruddace, the chief executive of Arena Racing Company, was also due to address the parliamentary group for gambling reform later that week to explain how increases in the duty on bets could have a knock-on effect throughout the rural communities that rely on race courses.
Calls from Parliament for Increased Gambling Taxes
In spite of the protests, pressure within Westminster to increase taxes on gambling has only increased. By the end of September, more than 100 MPs, mostly from the Labour benches, had signed a letter to the Chancellor in favour of greater taxation of gambling profits. They urged that the revenue generated can be used to fight child poverty and to increase limits on the two-child benefit.
This proposal was put forward by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), and it was supported by the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It called for significant increases across the sector: remote gambling duty increasing from 21% to 50%, duty on slot machines from 20% to 50% and most crucially for sports betting, this increased from 15% to 30%. Though horse racing was said to be excluded from the beginning, bookmakers are apprehensive about some of the future changes that might affect their work in some way.
The Response of Betting Firms
Major bookmakers were not slow to advise that such measures would have their consequences. William Hill’s parent company, Evoke, posted that up to 200 betting shops would potentially shut down, resulting in the loss of up to 15% of its retail network, involving about 1,500 jobs that would be at risk, should the higher duties be introduced.
Entain, the parent company of Ladbrokes and Coral, said similar concerns. Its new CEO, Stella David, said that although the company was in favour of being regulated by responsible legislation, the tax increase could cause them to reconsider the extent of their investments in the UK. With more than 2,300 betting shops across the country, any change in taxation could have an immediate effect on local economies, particularly on towns where betting shops are major employers.
Waiting for the November Budget
For now, uncertainty is suspended over the sport. The Chancellor is expected to deal with gambling tax changes in the upcoming November budget, but there is no clear decision. In the meantime, lobbyists, MPs, and racing bodies are continuing to make their cases in Whitehall and hoping that the government considers the more far-reaching economic consequences before finalising any changes.
While there’ve been strikes and race meetings suspended, they’ve also underlined how deeply betting is interlinked to the future of British racing. Whether the government changes the rate, excludes certain sectors, or pushes through anyway, the coming weeks could determine the financial shape of one of Britain’s oldest sporting industries.