The simple explanation for the damaging tax proposal that stunned racing

It seems nobody expected the British government's announcement about a potential hike in online gambling tax rates, perhaps not even the government. That last statement sounds a tad confusing but it gives racing some hope. At the moment, hope is a precious commodity.

The news came on page 95 of the document that accompanied chancellor Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement. This revealed that the government will consult on proposals to tax all remote betting at the same rate. Currently, there are three rates – 15 per cent for general betting duty, which includes racing bets, 15 per cent for pool bets and 21 per cent for gaming. Conceivably the unified rate could be anything, but there is a widespread assumption that it would see betting duty increased to bring it in line with gaming.

What seems beyond doubt is this is bad news for the betting industry and for the British racing industry. Quite why, then, the proposal appeared within the section 'Backing British Business' is hard to fathom.