Horserace Betting Levy Board

The Horserace Betting Levy Board’s (HBLB) 2021/22 Annual Report, published today here, records in detail the various initiatives put in place by HBLB from April 2021 through the following 12 months that continued to support Racing’s recovery from the effects of Covid-19.

The report notes that Levy income for the year was £97.6m, £15.6m higher than in 2020/21, principally due to the return of a full-year racing programme in 2021.  Income was supplemented by a very welcome £3m contribution from the Racing Foundation utilised for specific grants supporting the sport’s people development and training.

HBLB’s expenditure in the Levy year reached £113.9m, including more than usual expended on grants for prize money and regulation in part as a result of utilising the proceeds from a loan of £21.52m from the Government’s Sport Survival Package (SSP).

The Board agreed that, as in recent years, it should again plan for a deficit budget in the year and the overall 2021/22 operating deficit of £13.6m resulted in HBLB’s reserves decreasing from £43.5m on 31 March 2021 to £29.9m on 31 March 2022.  
The report sets out the key areas of HBLB expenditure which included:

• £72m contribution to prize money in calendar year 2021
• Targeted funding arising from the SSP for Black Type and Developmental races and additional support to Raceday Services Grants to ensure fixtures could be staged safely in line with Covid regulations
• £2.8m to support Industry training, recruitment and education in the racing and breeding industries
• £0.4m to point-to-pointing, including fixture support and increased medical provisions
• £0.4m towards the activity of the Horse Welfare Board to contribute towards the objectives outlined in ‘A Life Well Lived’
• £0.35m towards an interim equine infectious disease surveillance programme

In his statement as Chair of the Board, Paul Darling OBE KC thanks major bookmakers for continuing to provide betting data which “helps to grow levy and develop positive initiatives to help the sport”,  praises the HBLB staff “who continue to provide a high quality service to the board and to the sport as a whole” and expresses his gratitude to the Racing Foundation for “exceptional generosity in providing £3m in funds towards the sport’s people development activities”.

He also makes a number of observations about matters facing HBLB, Racing and Betting in the time ahead. These include the cost-of-living challenges, the upcoming review of gambling legislation and the ongoing concern about British racing’s competitiveness.

In his Chief Executive’s Statement, Alan Delmonte reports in detail on the increased expenditure to assist Racing while highlighting that it is not sustainable for HBLB to continue to operate in a budget deficit, setting out that:

“It will be necessary for HBLB to return to breakeven budgets in the near future, having incurred deficits of £14.2m in 2020/21 and £13.6m in 2021/22. The underlying HBLB financial position at the end of 2021/22, with reserves of £29m, remained sound. The cash position was better than this but was necessary having in mind the likelihood of a request from Racing during 2022/23 for substantial loan funds towards a major racecourse-wide project to develop and improve weighing rooms, which was announced by Racing in late 2021.”

The report also records a number of new initiatives by the Board during the course of the year, including an updated version of the guidance notes to assist bookmakers in calculating Levy liability. The Board also continued to refine its grant application and assessment processes.

For further information, please contact Alan Delmonte on 07931 701536