Last week, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) issued a statement confirming the structure of the new Racing Authority, which will take control of the functions currently performed by the Levy Board. Now confirmed by the majority stakeholders, the takeover will occur during April of next year.
The biggest news in the new structure is the confirmation that yield from the adjusted levy scheme for 2017-18 has been far more successful than expected. The new scheme makes changes from previous years, crucially including mandatory payments from any offshore online bets made on British Horseracing. The total yield is expected to top £90 million, almost double that of the previous year, where such bets were not taken into account. It was expected to provide perhaps an additional £30 million at most, but it’s looking to be closer to £40 million plus. The levy is calculated from bookies’ gross profits as reported.
The new structure was agreed to by the three main bodies who represent horse-racing in the UK: the BHA, the Horsemen’s Group, and the Racecourse Association, who have agreed to each appoint two members to the board. These will be accompanied by two independent appointees, including former Minister for Sport Hugh Robertson.
The key duties of the Racing Authority will include making sure that funds are used appropriately, fairly and transparently, as well as developing further funding sources. They will also be in charge of implementing overall strategy for future funding and future growth of the industry as a whole.
This is the second phase in reforms to the UK Horserace Betting Levy. The first phase was completed in April of last year, which caused the Levy to move from being strictly land-based to cover online betting within the UK. Operators in both domains pay 10% of profits from bets placed, back to the equine industry itself. The current Levy Board is being fully disbanded in this second wave, and the UK Gambling Commission will now oversee future collections. The Racing Authority will be tasked with distributing and managing those funds.
Robertson stated in the wake of the announcement that the new agreement indicates “a significant step forward for British Racing… I have been very encouraged to see how well the Authority’s new Board is working together to agree spending priorities.”
“We now have an intense period of work ahead of us as a new organisation to prepare for the formal transfer of responsibilities in April, and we look forward to working with stakeholders throughout racing and betting in the coming months.”
