Horserace Betting Levy Board

The Horserace Betting Levy Board’s (HBLB) 2022/23 Annual Report, published today here, sets out that statutory Levy income to the Board was £100m, the highest since the Levy collection reforms of 2017.

Income at this level was at the top end of expectations. The last two months of the 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 year saw bookmakers’ gross profits increasing significantly on the Board’s projections taking into account the actual results to that point and historic comparisons.

Over the year as a whole, the Board had noted reports of a continuing decline in turnover (amount staked) which was being partially mitigated by improved margins and gross win (amount retained by bookmakers), the basis on which Levy is paid.

These trends, of falling turnover and increasing margins, have continued into 2023/24.

In the Annual Report, Chief Executive Alan Delmonte notes that: “Whether or not these trends in turnover and gross win will be sustained will become clear with time. While the short-term position provides reassurance in terms of income projection, the Board must however remain cautious because the underlying position is that turnover has declined over a sustained period. Ultimately, whatever the cause, falling turnover is unlikely to prove a positive for the sport’s long-term health.”

The report sets out how the Board has deployed Levy income through grants in key areas, including to prize money, regulation and integrity, horse welfare, equine disease surveillance and prevention, veterinary science and education and to the sport’s people training and education.

The report also records:

• The achievement of a small operating surplus in the year, in part due to the Board receiving from the Racing Foundation the second £3m of the £6m over two years generously contributed towards the Board’s grants for people training and education initiatives.
• The publication of the Board’s first three-year Business Plan, during 2022/23.
• The updated and enhanced processes for inviting, assessing and monitoring grant applications.
• The decision to increase transparency with the publication of the Board’s race by race prize money contribution, providing greater visibility for the sport’s participants about where the Board’s prize money funds are directed.
• Saving an ongoing £100,000 per annum on administrative costs with the move to smaller office premises.

The report also refers to anticipated support in 2023/24 for aspects of Racing’s strategic review and, in conjunction with the Racing Foundation, the provision of loan funds of up to £400,000 per racecourse towards upgrades of racecourse weighing rooms including facilities for jockeys and others working in the weighing room environment.

In his statement, the Board’s Chairman, Paul Darling OBE KC, notes that the Board is pleased “to have been able to support Racing to such a significant degree in the past year. This reflects the balance that my Board colleagues and I have sought to strike since I became Chairman in 2020 in ensuring that our strong commitment to the sport is carried out in a financially responsible and sustainable manner”.

He also thanks the Racing Foundation for its grant and major bookmakers for the provision of confidential information that helps the Board’s analysis. 

The Chairman also points out that:

“The Levy Board, like all public bodies, is under ever greater scrutiny and it is a fact of life that our own decisions and actions carry increasing accountability and are expected to be based on clear evidence. Racing organisations receive the bulk of the Board’s grants. While the information and evidence we ask of grant recipients may well require more depth than in the past, this is an essential evolution in the relationship between the Board and the industry in an environment in which measurement, transparency, effectiveness, value for money and accountability become ever more important.”

For further information, please contact Alan Delmonte on 07931 701536