
Racing Needs Help from Charles Allen - But It Also Needs to Help Itself, says BGC CHAIR
The news that Lord Charles Allen has finally agreed to take over the reins as Chair of the British Horseracing Authority next month should be good news for everyone who, like me, loves the sport. But when I last met with him in private, I did wonder why on earth he would want the job.
There are many impressive, dedicated people working at the BHA. But my years of negotiations with the BHA have only served to highlight how divided, dysfunctional and, frankly, deluded some of their member organisations are.
Racing faces fundamental challenges. Yes it is the second-biggest spectator sport, but it is also a declining one. Last year, according to the BHA, the average attendance at racecourses was just under 3,406 (that’s the average - the big meetings are effectively carrying the rest of the calendar). That’s a 14 per cent decline since 2019. To put it into context, even the fourth tier of English football boasts average attendances of over 6,200.
In 2007, 17 per cent of the population had enjoyed horserace betting in the previous year. That figure fell to ten per cent in 2018.
Meanwhile, in the first three months of this year, betting turnover plummeted another nine per cent.
Racing needs new leadership but also a new strategy for growth. That means tackling the vested interests - lions led by donkeys - that have plagued the sport and held it back for too long. It’s why the embryonic proposals from Charles Allen for an ‘independent’ board with hopefully a more commercial (rather than representative) focus are welcome. The sport needs to shed its sense of entitlement and work out how it is going to earn its own living in the future.
The most urgent priority is for the betting and racing industries to work together to resist further tax rises. Any tax rise on betting or gaming is going to be bad for racing. BGC members contribute £6.8bn to the economy, generate £4bn in tax, support 109,000 jobs, and give £350 million to racing via sponsorship, marketing, media rights and the levy. New figures from the Levy Board reveal BGC members are expected to contribute a record £108m in levy payments for the period 2024/25. That’s a £3m increase on the previous year - and the fourth consecutive year of growth.
But most big gambling operators offer sports betting and online gaming. If costs go up and revenues fall because of rising taxes on any part of the business, including online gaming, then investment in horserace betting - an increasingly less profitable and more expensive product for operators - will be put in jeopardy.
Which is why I was disappointed, though not surprised, when the National Trainers’ Federation called for a hike in tax for online gaming - as if that won’t have a direct impact on the money that goes from betting to racing. It was also depressing and tedious to hear John Gosden denigrating online gaming in front of the cameras on ITV during Glorious Goodwood.
I also think it is naïve for racing to argue for another increase in the levy. If average margins are, say, one to two per cent for racehorse betting, then increasing the levy again simply risks making the product unprofitable for bookmakers.
And it’s not just the bookies that would feel the squeeze. Any increase in costs gets passed on - not just to the sport, through reduced spend on sponsorship, advertising and marketing - but also to punters. That might mean worse odds, fewer offers, and less generous promotions. Racing’s customers, in other words, end up getting a worse deal. That’s a distinction that’s too often lost in the debate, but it matters: because a worse deal for punters means even more pressure on the sport’s long-term sustainability.
In pleading for special treatment, some in racing must also stop over-claiming when it comes to the difference between gaming and horserace betting. Some argue that horserace betting is uniquely low-risk. This is not true. The rate of problem gambling might be lower than is the case for some other products, but it is higher than for other products too.
Additionally, the idea that betting on horseracing is purely a game of ‘skill’ and not also a game of ‘chance’ is nonsense. How many punters back a horse because they like the name or the colours? If betting on horses were purely a game of skill, how is it that a 150/1 shot wins a Group One at Goodwood?
Of course, knowledge of form counts for something. As does knowledge of breeding, ground conditions, the draw, etc. But luck - or ‘chance’ - also plays a massive part in determining the outcome of a race. No amount of advance knowledge or skill can anticipate when a horse disappoints for whatever reason, when a jockey makes a misjudgement, when a horse has to pull up or if it simply falls at the final fence. Betting on horses is a gamble. It is not a science.
Finally, it is quite baffling that some in racing, rather than standing shoulder to shoulder with the betting industry, have chosen to get into bed with the anti-gambling lobby. I’m not against racing playing politics, but why must they always play it so badly?
People should remember that some of those well-funded anti-gambling lobbyists - those snobbish pseudo-academics and the think tanks for hire - that are currently cosying up to racing are the same people who were recently calling for massive tax hikes on sports betting and spending caps on punters of £23 a week. These people are not pro-racing - they are just anti-gambling. And in the end, the crocodile gets round to eating us all.
The result of all this will be another leg-up to the growing, unsafe, unregulated black market online, where there are no checks, no safeguards, no support for racing, and where they pay zero tax. Already, around 1.5 million people stake an estimated £4.3 billion on the black market each year.
I publicly said that Charles Allen faces a Herculean task in getting the sport to work together and to embrace much-needed change. It is indeed good news that he has answered the sport’s SOS. The sport needs all the help it can get. But racing must begin by helping itself.
Michael Dugher is the Chair of the Betting and Gaming Council and is a former Shadow Secretary of State for DCMS.