BHA boss takes 'Axe the Racing Tax' message to global stage as major international conference highlights risk of black market betting

The BHA's acting chief executive Brant Dunshea took the 'Axe the Racing Tax' campaign to an international audience on Monday when addressing the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities conference in Paris. 

The major themes of the 59th IFHA conference were the threat posed by the exponential growth of illegal and black-market betting operators, along with a session on growing the appeal of the sport and reaching new audiences. 

IFHA chair Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges highlighted his concerns about the UK government's proposals to raise gaming duty to the same levels as online games of chance in a major Racing Post interview last month and he returned to the theme during his opening speech to the conference, which is attended by a who's who of racing administrators from around the world. 

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said potential tax rises would represent "a massive regulatory failure"Credit: ScoopDyga/IFHA

Engelbrecht-Bresges told the conference British racing faced changes to taxation that would be "devastating to the entire horseracing and breeding fraternity in the UK and would demonstrate a massive regulatory failure".

Dunshea detailed British racing's efforts to get the UK government and the Treasury to reconsider any desire to harmonise gaming duty on racing with that currently levied on online casino games and slots, a move which it is estimated would cost the sport £330 million in lost revenue over the next five years if enacted in the forthcoming budget. 

And he urged his fellow regulators to share their experiences of over-zealous government intervention. He told the hall: "It is incumbent on everyone to align with us to influence decision-makers about the future effects of such moves on racing."

Explaining his rationale in taking the 'Axe the Racing Tax' message to an international audience, Dunshea told the Racing Post: "Today is a really good opportunity for us to learn globally about the experience of other nations. What we are trying to help the government in Britain understand about these interventions – whether it’s about tax, anti-money laundering or affordability checks – is that they’ve already been made in other countries.

"We can see from all these different examples that often there are unintended consequences when these decisions are made."

In his conference address, Dunshea pointed to sobering examples of tax changes affecting diverse racing jurisdictions including the Netherlands, Austria and India, where the introduction of goods and services taxes on money wagered on horseracing led to government revenues from the sport more than halving over five years.

The Indian government raised the rate of tax from 28 per cent to 40 per cent last month, with the results in terms of further decline and the flight to the black market already evident.

Dunshea said: "We have to take notice of those examples and learn from them, if we're a policymaker, and not necessarily follow that same path which could lead to these unintended consequences.  

"What we've seen unfold in India just in the last month, and the example I briefly touched on regarding Italy, closer to home in ‌Europe, are examples of two very different approaches, which are leading to two very different outcomes. What we would say to our colleagues in government in the UK is, look at those examples and think very carefully about that."

Dunshea welcomed the interest shown by his international colleagues and the interventions of Engelbrecht-Bresges and others, describing them as "incredibly important".

"The voices of concern that are expressed globally about our domestic work might not necessarily resonate with domestic policy makers in Britain," he said. "What they have to take from that is that we are a global sport; it's a global online wagering market. 

"So decisions taken in one part of the world will have not only domestic consequences for that particular nation, but also global consequences for wagering trading partners. 

"It's important that administrators from around the world are observing what's happening in other countries and passing commentary that highlights the global connectivity of our sport, and the need for each jurisdiction to help their governments understand the interconnectivity of our global sport, and the impacts it could have."

Read more . . .

Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO warns proposed tax rise could see British racing come to 'significant harm' 

What would gambling tax rises mean for the racing – and what is most likely to happen? 

Claims that racing is working closely with anti-gambling lobby are 'simply inaccurate' says BHA 

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