Gambling industry stands united against sports levy plans
Ladbrokes, William Hill, Coral, RGA and the ABB all oppose UK Labour Party plans to effectively widen horse racing levy to all sports
A raft of bookmakers and industry bodies have opposed the Labour Party’s plans to apply a tax on operators’ profits made from UK sporting events should it win the 2015 General Election next May.
The opposition party yesterday kicked-off a consultation in which it announced it was keen to extend the current horse racing levy to all UK sports in order to fund grassroots sports and problem gambling initiatives.
However the consultation, which also includes plans to collect and distribute money laying in dormant betting accounts, has been given short shrift by bookmakers and industry bodies alike.
A spokesperson for William Hill, whose share price slumped around 5% on the back of yesterday’s news, told eGaming Review that while the proposal may be well intentioned, it was “illogical” to compare horse racing to other sports due to the bookies’ need to pay for horse racing television rights.
“The objectives are sensible and we already invest in community projects and sports sponsorship; however the structural, legal and economic issues are complex,” the spokesperson said.
“In particular, it is illogical to suggest an analogy with horse racing where we pay substantial sums for media rights to enable the product to be broadcast in our retail estate “ the same situation does not exist in football or other sports.
“We will be taking the opportunity to set out all of these issues in our consultation response,” the spokesperson added.
Easy target
Ladbrokes, whose share price also fell 5% yesterday, claimed the bookmaking industry had become an easy target for politicians and, with the Point of Consumption tax, rising machine duty and a remote horseracing levy still to come, director of external relations Donal McCabe said it was being viewed as a “bottomless pit”.
“As far as we are aware no bookmaker or betting operator ever closed a community sports field or club, so [we are] not sure why an extra tax is being proposed on an industry already facing two tax increases and who pays out over 65% of all its earnings in taxes and levies to make up for this ill,” McCabe said.
Remote Gambling Association (RGA) chief executive Clive Hawkswood told eGR he had written to Labour shadow sports minister Clive Efford in May to discuss the issue and was “disappointed” the party decided to press ahead with the idea.
However, Hawkswood added he took encouragement in that “we are still a long way from the Election, a long way from Labour forming the next Government, and a very long way from any reforms of this kind being assessed by the European Commission, let alone be implemented”.
Out of date
The Association for British Bookmakers (AAB) was also irked by the plans and made clear the industry already made a significant financial contribution to the Exchequer as well as problem gambling programmes.
“We are therefore concerned that these proposals are based on incorrect assumptions and out of date perceptions of the industry,” an AAB spokesperson said.
“This also comes at a time when the industry is absorbing new taxes that will cost an additional £300m. We will look to provide more accurate information to the Labour Party as part of their consultation process,” the spokesperson added.
And although Coral has yet to release a full comment on the issue, a spokesperson for the firm told eGR that it was fully supportive of the stance taken by the ABB.
The idea of a sports betting levy “ or ‘betting right’ “ has been discussed for some time with Labour having considered the measure in 2010. Earlier this year Conservative chancellor George Osborne also raised the prospect of a sports betting right as a long-term replacement for the horse racing levy.