Tuesday 19th October 2010

50th Levy Scheme : Update

The Horserace Betting Levy Board is continuing to liaise closely with Racing and the Bookmakers’ Committee in advance of 31st October, by which date the 50th Levy Scheme (1st April 2011 to 31st March 2012) must either be agreed by the Levy Board or referred to the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport for determination.

The Board published on its website the formal recommendations of the Bookmakers’ Committee for the Scheme shortly after those recommendations were presented to the Board at its July meeting. Also published was the submission by Racing, which was presented to the Board’s March meeting.

Since then a number of further submissions have been made by both Racing and the Bookmakers’ Committee as contributions to the process. These will not be published by the Board, at least not before 31st October.

The three Government-appointed members of the Board have commissioned Deloitte to produce a report for them, which they will consider later this month.

Rejection of Bookmakers’ Committee Recommendations



At the Board’s September meeting, the Board rejected the Bookmakers’ Committee’s Recommendations presented at the July meeting.

It is now for the Bookmakers’ Committee to consider whether or not to make revised Recommendations to the Board before 31st October.

HBLB Chairman Paul Lee said: “The three Government-appointed members – Penny Boys, Paul Darling and I – will do what we can to assist the process in the second half of this month. Within the parameters of our statutory responsibilities, we will be actively exploring whether an agreement on the 50th Levy Scheme can be achieved by 31st October.”