Racing TV calls upon sport to support Axe The Tax campaign

Racing TV is calling on the sport to unite behind the ‘axe the racing tax’ campaign and email their local MPs via an easy-to-use portal.

Racing TV has set up an online portal which enables users to locate their local MP and email a template letter outlining their concerns about what a higher taxation would mean for horseracing.

The action comes on the back of the Government’s consultation on how the betting and gaming industry is taxed. Currently, horseracing and other sports are taxed at a lower rate (15%) than other forms of online gambling. If horseracing (alongside other sports) were to be taxed at the same rate as other types of gambling at 21%, racing’s finances could be hit to the tune of £66m in lost income, according to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

This is because operators are likely to seek to mitigate significant tax rises through cutting bonuses, reducing advertising and marketing budgets and increasing prices. They also might look to invest overseas instead, and there is a risk punters may turn to the unregulated, unsafe black market, which doesn’t pay a penny in tax.

This would put thousands of jobs at risk and severely impact towns and rural communities across the country. It would also hamper British racing’s world-leading work on equine welfare.