Horse racing may dodge Rachel Reeves’ gambling tax grab but industry still not happy

The Chancellor is hoping to raise around £1billion in taxes but sources involved in horse racing fear that any hit on the gambling sector will have a knock-on effect

Horse racing looks set to dodge Rachel Reeves’ gambling tax grab. The sport of kings will reportedly be let off by the Chancellor as she prepares to hit slot machines and online gaming with harsher hikes instead.

She hopes to rake in around £1bn with the hefty levies, although no final call has yet been made on it. But insiders claim any hit on the betting industry will still have a domino effect on racing.

One said: “The Treasury just doesn’t get it. You don’t protect horse racing by taking £1bn from the gambling sector, you do the complete opposite.

“The pleasure police who despise gambling have bet the Government will dance to their tune, and unfortunately, it seems like they are. It will cost thousands of jobs.”

But the Treasury is miffed that people have tunnel vision on racing instead of seeing the benefits of raising revenue from gambling. A Whitehall source said: “This is not about targeting horse racing. It is not the stuff most people have a flutter on casually.”

It comes after nearly a quarter of Labour MPs backed a campaign to tax gambling firms, saying the cash raised could pull half a million children out of poverty.

The petition, spearheaded by ex PM Gordon Brown and signed by 101 Labour MPs, says the tax could free up £3bn which could then be used to relax the two-child benefit cap.

But boss of the UK’s Betting and Gaming Council Grainne Hurst said any levy would “drive customers towards the unsafe, unregulated black market.”

Betfred previously warned it would close all 1,287 high street shops if Reeves agrees to the tax grab. Billionaire owner Fred Done said the move puts 7,500 jobs at risk and is the “biggest threat” to the industry in 57 years.

Jockeys and trainers staged the sport’s first ever strike in September, cancelling all four scheduled meetings. It was the first time the sport had voluntarily refused to race in modern history. The tax hikes will be revealed in Reeves’s Budget on November 26.

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