Horserace Betting Levy Board

The report, here, brings together an assessment of the progress made on implementing the 26 Key Projects identified in the Business Plan as well as an update on the 13 Racing Outcomes, 7 internal key performance indicators (KPIs), HBLB’s 3 strategic risks and the organisation’s financial position.

The Business Plan set out a series of goals and Racing Outcomes, derived from the purpose and vision of the organisation set by the Board. These Racing Outcomes are HBLB’s aspirational aims for the sport in which HBLB has a direct interest and which guide the Board’s decision-making on grant applications.

The Plan also reflects that the Levy collected by HBLB under statutory authority is classified by Government as public money. This requires HBLB’s compliance with or regard to a range of public sector reporting requirements and management responsibilities, including Managing Public Money and the Government Functional Standards (government-wide standards with expected compliance levels for public bodies), including those for Grants, Finance, Audit and Digital, Data and Technology.

HBLB Chief Executive Alan Delmonte said: “When publishing the Business Plan we committed to providing updates and are pleased to produce this first one a year on.

“HBLB is a small but busy organisation which has a significant reach, with its collection and distribution of around £100m a year involving close working relationships with the Racing and Betting industries. As an Arm’s Length Body (ALB) of Government, we also have responsibilities to Parliament and Government which necessarily place requirements upon us as a public body in the way that we operate and manage the funds under our control.

“Overall, work is regarded as on track albeit that inevitably some items are more advanced than others. Good progress has been made in designing focused measures for our various items of grant expenditure, on our own internal KPIs and on risk mitigation.

“The financial position remains satisfactory. Levy income this year so far is tracking similarly to the 2022/23 year, which saw a return to an operating surplus. This has allowed us to fund new initiatives such as enhanced prize money in 2024.

“The Racing Outcomes, the 13 aspirational aims for the sport agreed by the Board to help guide decision-making on grant applications, provide a series of data over a number of years. These present a mixed picture with several challenges including in trends for betting turnover and raceday attendances.”