The Committee’s recommendations, agreed unanimously by the Board on 24 October 2012, were similar in most respects to the 51st Levy Scheme. In its deliberations prior to submitting the recommendations the Committee noted the continuing high price of receiving televised pictures of live British horseracing in the Licensed Betting Office (LBO) estate and that payment for televised pictures of live British horseracing represent indirect payments from bookmakers to racing which should be taken into account.
The Committee’s recommendations were again put forward on the understanding that the HBLB would seek to facilitate a minimum of 1450 criteria fixtures, an improvement in the average number of runners per race across all codes and afford bookmaking representatives greater influence in respect of the fixture programme.
The Scheme proposed a ‘rollover’ from the previous year for most elements, including provision for annual adjustments in line with RPI*, to the LBO threshold and to the annual charge on racecourse bookmakers. Other significant points were:
- The LBO Fixed Rate Rebate for the first 30 shops in any chain was increased from £400 to £735.
* Based on RPI of 3.2% on 31 July 2012.
