Horse Racing Levy

George Howarth Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

That is an extremely important point. I was speaking to a successful and wise trainer yesterday who told me that trainers will often not send horses to race in Scotland unless another horse goes on the lorry. Of course, that takes out runners, which does not help the gambling industry—it is a circular process.

I received a phone call yesterday from a Mr Staddon, who owns five horses. He took one to Hereford last week. It jumped all 19 fences and came third. Hon. Members might think that that is pretty good, but his prize money was £205, and it cost him £650 to race and travel. He came third, but did not get even a third of his costs back. He is seriously considering giving up. If he takes his five horses out of training, the trainer will have to cut staff, farriers and all the services that go with stables. He fears job losses in racing on a mass scale.

The task is urgent. We know where the money that is made in racing lies. In Britain, there is a 1% return to racing from betting turnover, compared with 5% in Japan or 8% in the US and France. The gambling industry’s gross win on racing is more than £1 billion a year. Yesterday, we were all delighted that William Hill reported a sharp increase in profits.

[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman both on the topic that he has chosen and the way in which he is presenting his argument. He accurately describes some of the difficulties, but does he not accept that they exist under the levy, and that it might well be better for everybody concerned if racing and the bookmaking industry came to a commercial agreement rather than fall back on the Government?

[Matthew Hancock]

The right hon. Gentleman is an astute Member of the House, as I have learned in my short time here, and he nicely anticipates what I am about to say.

Before I address that point, the second question is: why has that decline in the levy happened? There are four holes in the levy through which contributions are leaking: offshore operators, betting exchanges, thresholds and overseas racing. They are set out in the racing united charter, which I urge all hon. Members to sign—they would be joining not only me, but A.P. McCoy and even a member of Abba.