UK Racing to Gain BIG TIME

BHA welcomes end to antiquated funding system for UK racing
London – Nick Rust, the British Horseracing Authority’s chief executive, described Thursday’s confirmation that the government will seek to replace the sport’s Levy funding system by April 2017 as “truly historic”, but it might still be argued that he was selling it short.

MARCH 5, 2016
If all goes to plan, replacement of the Levy by a commercial system to capture both retail and online betting on racing will catapult the sport straight from the 1960s, when the Levy was introduced, into the same here and now as everyone else.

The first and most obvious question on many minds will be: how much is it worth?

Bringing offshore betting under the umbrella will, inevitably, raise millions, and probably tens of millions, more each year, to boost an industry which, directly or indirectly, employs 85,000 people. More information about the hard numbers, including the rate at which bookmakers will be charged, will emerge in due course, possibly in the Budget speech on Wednesday week. In a sense, though, the money is not the most important thing. It is the principle that is truly priceless.

The fundamental flaw in the Levy system was that it always allowed the bookmakers to make the opening offer, as if it was the bookies who were the ultimate source of the cash, rather than their punters. Racing stages entertainment for its audience, and what they lose over time from betting on it is the price of their fun.

But instead of selling tickets to the public like a normal business, the Levy forced racing to go through an agent, which block-booked the entire theatre and then set a limit on how much it would pay. A commercial replacement for the Levy should not only modernise the funding of racing, but its entire structure and outlook. The punters, and not the bookmakers, will at last assume their rightful position as the sport’s real customers.

The bookmakers, meanwhile, will be service providers, paid a commission for handling racing’s income stream from betting. Finally, crucially, it will not be a question of how much the bookies pass on to racing, but how much racing lets them keep.

As a result, and for the first time, we should also get a good idea of how much British racing is worth commercially to a mass audience, without the statutory fog of the Levy to get in the way. The sport’s income from betting will be intimately linked to the success or failure of attempts to grow its audience in Britain and abroad and give it what it wants: an exciting, deeply competitive sport which is also the best and most natural betting medium yet conceived.

This is an opportunity that racing has been working towards for many years. Try as they might, the bookmakers could not outrun the 21st century and basic, commercial common sense forever.

The big gambling businesses that have resisted the sport’s Authorised Betting Partner initiative thus far may decide to keep running for a little longer.

Alternatively, they may cave in and accept that, in future, they will hand over a slice of their entire gross profit on British racing before they do anything else, and that the future might as well start now.

But whatever happens on ABP, British racing now has a firm commitment to Levy replacement from a government which seems to have the will to deliver. At last, it seems to be a promise that racing can take to the bank. – The Guardian.

Bookies to pay more towards British horseracing
London – British horseracing has welcomed an announcement by Culture secretary John Whittingdale that the UK government intends to replace the current betting Levy funding system for racing by April 2017.

MARCH 5, 2016
The racing industry has long called for government intervention against the current system, from which offshore online betting is exempt and costs the sport tens of millions of pounds.

Chancellor George Osborne proposed a “Racing Right” to replace the Levy in last March’s Budget.

And in a seismic overhaul that would give the sport a significant cash boost, Whittingdale has outlined the Government’s aim of pooling together income from betting on racing both in shops and online.

He said: “Our aim is to introduce a new funding arrangement for British racing by April 2017.

“We will create a level playing field for British-based and offshore gambling operators, and ensure a fair return from all bookmakers to racing, including those based offshore.

“Racing will be responsible for making decisions on spending the new fund and we’ll be making further announcements shortly.”

British Horseracing Authority chief executive Nick Rust has been working hard to fill the void in the interim after having imposed an Authorised Betting Partner (ABP) policy, which requires bookmakers to pay racing an agreed chunk of the profits they make from racing bets online.

Betfair, bet365, 32Red and BetVictor have so far signed up to the new system, with the four bookmakers having agreed to make voluntary contributions from their remote activity.

Other established bookmakers like Ladbrokes, Betfred, Coral, William Hill and Paddy Power have yet to agree to ABP status.

While the BHA has welcomed the news, it still intends to build on the ABP scheme with the aim being “to smooth the transition to the new funding model and to maintain the current level of Levy funding”.

Rust said: “Today’s announcement is one that should prove truly historic. The new funding model will ensure a fair transfer of funding to British racing based on all betting activity on the sport – a link that was first established in law in 1961.

“It meets all of racing’s requirements for a new funding model and can bear fruit in 2017, which is crucial given the significant Levy cliff we face.

“In the longer term, this means greater financial security for the sport, a platform for growth, a huge boost to our participants and more certainty for the tens of thousands of people who rely on racing for their livelihoods.

“We look forward to working with government on the details of these proposals and to make sure the implementation timetable they have announced today is achieved.

“We now have a great opportunity to bring together racing and betting in tackling the sport’s funding issues for the benefit of all parties, and this is something that we are actively pursuing.

“We want to focus the joint efforts of racing and betting on innovation and growth in the sport as a betting product.”

Philip Freedman, executive chairman of the Horsemen’s Group, which represents the interests of racehorse owners, trainers, jockeys, stable staff and breeders, was also pleased by the announcement.

He said: “Horsemen will be delighted by the announcement that racing will get rights to funding from offshore bookmakers by April 2017.

“Restoring racing’s income from betting to the levels intended by previous government determinations, before so much betting had migrated offshore and outside the scope of the Levy, is an essential step in growing the industry to the benefit of both horsemen and betting operators.”

Stephen Atkin, chief executive of the Racecourse Association, added: “The Racecourse Association warmly welcomes government’s announcement as a critical moment for the sport and an important development for all of our members.

“Once implemented, this will provide much needed stability and an incentive to both racecourses and horsemen to invest in the sport for the long-term.

“We look forward to working with our colleagues in racing and betting as well as the government to help implement this decision.”
The Association of British Bookmakers is keen to work in unison with the government and the BHA, but said the proposed new system must be “fair to betting shops”.

A statement read: “We welcome the government’s progress on introducing a new system for the betting industry to fund horse racing.

“We will be working closely with the government and horse racing on the critical and so far undecided detail of the new system to ensure that any new Levy is both fair to horse racing and the betting industry.

“The amount that racing receives from betting, particularly in media payments has grown by tens of millions in recent years.

“On top of this, betting shops already bear an unfair burden and the current rate of 10.75 per cent is unsustainable for the retail sector.

“Any new deal on Levy has to be fair to betting shops and should be based on an accurate assessment of the level of subsidy required to support horseracing.”

Mark I think the UK books will just distant theirselves from racing