Overview

• Four meetings at Carlisle, Uttoxeter, Lingfield and Kempton will be cancelled on September 10 and have been rescheduled to alternative dates in early and mid-September.
• The British Horseracing Authority, The Jockey Club and Arena Racing Company jointly organised the unprecedented one-day blackout to oppose HM Treasury’s consultation on aligning remote gambling duties.
• Industry modelling commissioned by the BHA warns that raising the duty on racing bets from 15% to 21% could cost the sport £330 million in five years and put about 2,750 jobs at risk in the first year.
• The one-day strike is expected to cost roughly £700,000 in lost media rights and levy income as meetings are moved to other dates.
• HM Treasury says the exercise is aimed at simplifying online betting taxes and will consider stakeholder responses with a mid-October briefing ahead of the autumn budget.