BHA Chief Sets Out Post-Budget Plans In Bid To Help Horseracing

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) Chief Executive Brant Dunshea has spelt out his intentions to stop horseracing from financial ruin. In the Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey's Autumn Budget announced earlier this week, the Machine Games Duty (MGD) rose from 20% to 25%, falling in line with what The Times reported earlier this month.

Nevertheless, it was well short of the recommended 40% rate provided by cross-party think tank the Social Market Foundation (SMF), who were adamant that more harmful levels of gambling should lead to higher rates of tax imposed. Still, horseracing has been in the firing line, and Dunshea is adamant they need a helping hand.

Finding a remedy

Over the past year, racing has come under increasing financial pressure. While racing was exempt from the previous tax grab enforced by then-Chancellor Rachel Reeves in November 2025, where general betting duty paid on online sports bets will rise from 15% to 25% of gross gambling yield (GGY) in April 2027, the effects have been felt elsewhere.

Many UK operators have been reining back in marketing spend and some have pulled the plug on sponsorship of races. Worse still, almost a third of the sport’s £350 million annual income is thought to come from betting via high street venues, and now it could lose as much as £57m a year due to measures laid out in the Budget. Now, Dunshea wants to ensure racing isn’t left behind in the long run.

In a statement, he said: “As the only sport in receipt of a statutory levy from the betting industry, we will seek to urgently engage with the Government to establish how we can work together to reduce the impacts of this tax policy.

“The BHA will now analyse the Budget documents in greater detail to establish whether there are any potential issues that may impact racing.”

Levy a thorn in the side

To a certain extent, the levy has proved to be a bane for operators. Earlier this year, the rate was kept at 10% following a Government review, and this affected bookies with annual gross profits on racing of £500,000 or more.

Dunshea had expressed his disappointment over the Government’s sluggishness in not changing the levy rate; however, the Horseracing Betting Levy Board (HBLB) tied up a consultation phase earlier this week over how to give smaller and mid-sized bookies more financial support.

Within this, the HBLB were exploring ways to lower auditing and operating costs. This included addressing the profit threshold where operators had to supply a full accountant’s report verifying assessable profits from UK racing markets, and this was taken to try and level out the playing field.

No respite

Although the MGD increase wasn’t as severe as previously envisaged, it still left many of the betting industry’s leaders up in arms. The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), for example, described the Government’s decision as “deeply damaging”, pointing to modelling carried out by EY suggesting a 5% lift in MGD could see as many as 9,000 people lose their jobs and 1,500 betting shops close down.

Betfred chairman and co-founder Fred Done, meanwhile, conceded that the measures give betting shops “no breathing space” and represent another “blow to horseracing’s finances”. Racing has found itself in a constant battle with the Government, but now more than ever, the sport needs to make itself heard to avoid further pain down the line.