BGC chief executive Grainne Hurst said horse racing’s carve-out from the gambling tax hike in the UK budget was merely “cosmetic” and warned the sport faces tough times ahead.
Racing will feel the pain of Rachel Reeve’s decision to hike gambling taxes, including increasing Remote Gaming Duty from 21% to 40%, despite its carve-out from the upped General Betting Duty to 25%, Hurst argued.
It follows the horse racing sector, which has historically been considered an ally to the gambling industry, opting to go it alone in campaigning ahead of the budget, where it lobbied for a tax exemption as opposed to lobbying against the hikes as a whole.
