BGC members contributed £455m to British horseracing in 2022

Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) members directly contributed £455m to British horseracing in 2022 via the statutory levy, media rights and sponsorship deals. 

According to new data from the trade body, affiliated firms spent £125m on marketing to promote racing and betting through adverts and partnerships. 

The BGC said this helped secure terrestrial coverage of horseracing (ITV Racing), the support of two racing channels (Sky Sports Racing and Racing TV) and raised the revenue of print newspapers.

Media rights payments rose by around £45m from 2021, reaching £340m in 2022. 

According to the Horserace Betting Levy Board, betting levy payments are projected to be £99m in 2022-23, up £50m from the payment made in 2016-17 when firms based overseas were required to contribute, but just slightly up on the £97.6m collected in 2021-22.

As it stands, a statutory levy of 10% of bookmakers’ gross profits on British racing above the first £500,000 is funnelled into the sport. The levy represented about 6% of the sport’s direct income of £1.47bn in 2022.

As detailed in the white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review, the UK government is committed to revisiting the levy system by 2024. That process has begun, the white paper revealed.

There is the option of increasing the current levy, or switching from a model based on operators’ gross profits to one based on betting turnover from British racing, as well as controversial calls for UK-licensed firms’ bets on overseas racing to be collected as part of the levy.

Meanwhile, the BGC said the overall £455m contributed to racing enabled the sport to offer record prize money of £179.3m in 2022. 

The industry’s mouthpiece also said the £455m outstrips the previous £350m estimation for the regulated sector’s contribution to horseracing.

Michael Dugher, BGC CEO, praised the regulated betting industry’s increased contributions to horseracing despite the dip in turnover in recent years due to the pandemic and ongoing macroeconomic situation.

He commented: “BGC members in the regulated betting industry are now paying more towards British horseracing than ever before, despite a 10.3% reduction in betting turnover on racing in the last five years.

“These huge sums also come at a time when the regulated betting sector is under enormous pressure, not least in the form of recent measures unveiled in the government’s white paper.”

Dugher went on to say that the only way the two industries can prosper is by working together.

He added: “These figures show that betting continues to bankroll the sport, but it is not a bottomless pit. I know racing, just like any other sport and indeed our own land-based betting and gaming industry, is trying to bounce back post-Covid in the face of seriously challenging economic headwinds – a task made even harder for racing and betting because of the decisions the government deliberately chose to make in its recent white paper.

“That is why BGC is fully committed to working together with the leadership of the sport, including the British Horseracing Authority and others, to ensure racing not only survives but thrives. Anyone who cares passionately about the sport, as I do, understands that racing must change. The future investment must come with reform,” he concluded.