Horse racing to go on strike in protest against government’s planned betting tax rise | Horse racing

All the races planned in Britain on September 10 will be canceled and the sport will actually go on strike, because the racing will increase the protests against a treasury proposal to align the task rate collected in sports betting for a much more addictive games of chance, such as roulette and online slot machines.

The abandonment of meetings in UTTOXETER, Lingfield, Kempton and Carlisle is expected to cause a loss of approximately £ 700,000 to the sector.

Action, First reported by The TimesHe was accepted after his cooperation between Jockey Club RacreeCourses, who operated Kempton and Carlisle; Uttoxter and lingfield operator Arena Racing Company; And the British Horseacing Authority, the ruling organ of the sport.

Gambling in games of chance is taxed in 21% of an operator’s gross profit, while the betting task on races, sports and other events without fixed profit margin for the operator is 15%. Since the legalization of out -of -course bets in the early 1960s, 10% of the gross profits are charged for bets for the UK races that have returned to the UK’s race, which has returned money to the race.

The proposal to equalize the task rate for betting and gaming products was initially swam by the Treasury in the last months of the conservative government of Rishi Sunak, but survived the transition to a working management and was the subject of a closing advisory process in July.

Betting and games have been handled separately for taxation, because the betting and game law came into force in 1961. In the race, there is a widespread belief that the balancing of task rates will make sports more expensive for operators and consequently make it much less attractive than gaming products that have a guaranteed return.

Among the alternatives for the tax regime around gambling, the social market foundation Thinktank allows the game mission to be increased to 50% and sports bets can be increased to 25% and the changes in the tax system do not lose the race.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown defended a significant increase in the task taken from fixed margs’ products.

Brant Dunshea, General Manager of BHA, who launched the campaign against tax proposals last month, said that the stakeholders of the sport are “opposing the treasury’s proposals to harmonize remote gambling tasks”. Dunshea added: “If the chancellor delivers this tax bomb in the autumn budget, only things will not only disappear, but the future of the second largest spectator sport in England will be in danger.

“Therefore, it is vital for the government to carefully handle the argument of all British races by stakeholders and work with us to protect a valuable national institution.” The races lost on September 10 are also expected to be added to other planned cards.

The history of the race was selected for “Strike ,, 24 hours before the start of the high -profile st Leger meeting in Doncaster, where Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria attended last year.