Jockey Club warns of Treasury ‘self-harm’ ahead of racing’s tax hike strike
The Jockey Club has warned that the government is “walking into self-harm” if it pushes ahead with a tax hike on racing bets as the industry prepares for an unprecedented strike tomorrow.
For the first time in its modern history, racing has voluntarily shelved all meetings due to take place on Wednesday – at Lingfield, Carlisle, Uttoxeter and Kempton – as part of its Axe The Racing Tax campaign.
The Treasury has proposed introducing a single remote gambling tax, which would increase the rate paid by bookmakers on racing bets from 15 per cent to 21 per cent, the same as online casinos and gaming.
Research commissioned by British racing chiefs estimates that the industry would lose £66m a year from the move, hitting trainers, breeders and courses, and potentially causing irreparable damage to the sport.
“I think it’s inevitable that you’ll see racecourses close, and the problem with that is a lot of these racecourses are embedded in communities that have been there for generations and it takes something away,” Jockey Club chief executive Jim Mullen, whose group manages 15 British racecourses, told CityAM.
“What we’re really sad about is that we run a sport and there’s not very many of them that we lead the world in. All we’re saying to the Treasury and the government is: ‘Just have a think about what you’re doing – this walking into self-harm – to something that the UK, particularly England, is the best in the world at. Why would you want to do that?’
“We’ve got the Grand National, Ascot, the Cheltenham Festival, the Derby. Why on earth do we want to undermine that? We are the best in the world at it and, for £66m a year, that’s what’s going to happen. And we just want the government and the Treasury to stop and go, ‘Yeah, this isn’t worth it’.”
Jockey Club: Racing strike not taken lightly
The Treasury has said it is currently consulting on the tax change ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Autumn Budget, which has been pushed back to late November.
Jockey Club boss Mullen said rescheduling Wednesday’s racing would mean the £4bn industry taking a short-term financial hit in the “hundreds of thousands” – before revenue from the betting levy – and “is not something we took lightly”.
“It’s a massive, massive thing, and we’ve never done it before, because obviously cancelling any type of sports event is a big call,” added Mullen, a former CEO of publisher Reach and Ladbrokes Coral.
“But we feel as if we have to because we want people to listen to us. For the first time I can remember racing has come together. We’re having a blank day of racing, and we’ve made our case very, very clearly. We just hope the Treasury and the government see sense.”