UK horserace levy stays at 10% after three-year review
Table of contents
- The UK government has concluded its long-delayed Horserace Betting Levy review with no change to the 10% rate.
- The BHA says the decision compounds existing financial pressure from rising gambling taxes and incoming affordability checks.
- Chief executive Brant Dunshea argues the DCMS contradicted its own pre-Budget advice by ruling out a levy increase.
British horseracing is under pressure on multiple fronts after the UK government concluded a near three-year levy review this week with no change to the rate and no relief in sight on the regulatory front either.
The review dates back to the last Conservative government, which committed to a further levy assessment by 24 April 2024. It was finally concluded this week by the current Labour administration.
Three years, no change
Baroness Twycross, minister for museums, heritage and gambling, said the government did not feel it appropriate to “pursue legislative changes to the rate of the horserace betting levy at this time” and that it did not “support the extension of the levy to overseas racing.”
The decision was also relayed to the Commons by Ian Murray, minister for creative industries, media and arts.
The levy requires bookmakers with annual gross profits on British horseracing over £500,000 to pay a rate of 10%, collected by the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB). Last year’s yield reached an estimated £108m, up from £105m the prior year.
The government pointed to the broader gambling tax changes announced in the 2025 Autumn Budget as justification for holding the rate steady. That Budget confirmed a rise in remote gaming duty from 21% to 40%, effective April 2026, alongside a new general betting duty of 25 per cent for remote betting from April 2027.
Horseracing was exempt from the general betting duty increase, remaining at 15%, a concession the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) had lobbied hard for, but one it argued was meaningless without a levy rise.
A contradiction at the heart of the decision
Brant Dunshea, chief executive of the BHA, questioned the consistency of government policy, noting that the DCMS had previously warned in its pre-Budget advice to the Treasury that “unless a carve-out for racing was accompanied by an increase in the Horserace Betting Levy…racing would be unlikely to feel any benefit.”
The carve-out came. The levy increase did not.
“It is disappointing that it has taken almost three years to determine there should be no change in the Levy rate. Throughout protracted negotiations British horseracing engaged with the Government in good faith, including providing clear evidence of a substantial — and growing — gap between our costs of providing the sport and the return we receive from betting,” Dunshea said.
He also highlighted a stark disparity with international rivals.
“British horseracing already gets a significantly lower return from the gambling industry compared to our nearest rival jurisdictions. While French and Irish horseracing gets 7.7% and 8.4% respectively, we receive less than 3%,” he added.
Affordability checks: the third pressure
With the levy settled, the BHA’s immediate focus has shifted to affordability checks and the threat they pose to betting volumes that directly fund the sport.
Dunshea warned that adding “more red tape to an already highly regulated sector will only fuel a significant rise in illegal betting, deprive horseracing of funding and prevent the government from collecting millions of pounds in much-needed taxation.”
Grainne Hurst, chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, echoed the concern, arguing that financial risk assessments risk “duplicating existing protections while creating significant friction for customers, which will only push more people to the unsafe, illegal black market.”
The Horseracing Bettors Forum added that affordability checks were not a “realistic option” in the absence of levy reform.
The BHA’s position is clear: if the government will not increase the levy, it should at minimum pause the rollout of financial risk assessments. British racing has already struggled to recover its audience since the Covid-19 pandemic, with the levy base unchanged throughout that period.
A further squeeze on betting volumes — on top of static funding and rising operational costs — is a combination the sport argues it cannot absorb.
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