Anyone hear anything else about this?
Not sure how legit this website is…
while I think the Sun is glorified fish wrap, they would not be joking about something as serious as a disruption in betting habits!
It’s official, the world is ending!
Britain is stopping horse racing!
Excuse me while I assume a fetal position over here in this corner.
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British horse racing is in a weak position, and has been for a long time, because there are multiple factions and interest groups who argue and undermine each other constantly - big egos, big opinions, big money - so there is no single united voice speaking for horse racing. The breeders, owners, trainers, stable staff, jockeys, race courses, even the small “bookmakers” etc make up the fractious “racing industry” but then there are the slick multinational betting companies who take millions from people betting on racing and increasingly on other sports and online slots and games etc. As it stands, the betting companies only have to pay a tiny percentage (not certain, but used to be about 3%) of their huge profits back into horse racing - a bit like leaches sucking a body white. Prize money in the UK fails to cover the costs of keeping most horses in training and it is lower than almost any other racing jurisdiction. The industry is also one of the largest employers in the country as horse care is so labour intensive. Some 4-5 million Brits go to the races each year and it is part of Britains culture. Past Governments had given horse racing a small break by making the betting tax lower on live, on-course betting but the current Government wants to up it to the same level as online betting. There are also multiple other issues, e.g. “affordability tests”, as the Government grapples with a multi-billion, multi-sport, multinational, online, high street, socially disruptive “betting industry” that probably has outgrown the sociable, sporting, possibly rather niche and quaint horse racing industry.
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Wow.
It seems like the world might stop turning on the day such a thing actually happens.
The Racing Post has extensive coverage of the pending strike. Here’s a lineup of articles on the tax; most of these are free. News page has more strike coverage.
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