Horserace Betting Levy Board

 

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The main function of the Committee is to recommend annually to the Board the categories, rates, conditions and definitions of the Levy Scheme for the following year and, if appropriate, to revise such recommendations in light of observations made by the Board.


The 48th Scheme (1st April 2009 - 31st March 2010)
Agreement on this Scheme was reached in October 2008 after the Committee had taken part in a process conducted at the behest of the Board by Sir Philip Otton QC, a retired Lord Justice of Appeal, who was commissioned to provide advice to the Board.

The Committee’s recommendations for the 48th Scheme were similar in most respects to those for the 47th Scheme, insofar as the main terms and conditions of the 47th Scheme were rolled forward to the 48th. However, three specific changes were made: the threshold above which LBO operators pay the headline rate of 10% on their British horseracing business was increased by 5% in line with RPI and was set at £90,000 for the period of the 48th Levy Scheme; the daily rates of £8.00 and £4.00 hitherto paid by racecourse bookmakers was abolished and they will instead pay an annual fixed fee of £200, to be adjusted annually in line with RPI; and the Minimum Guarantee, set at £2,144 for the 47th Scheme, was abolished.


The 49th Scheme (1st April 2010 - 31st March 2011)
In February 2009, the Committee made proposals to the Levy Board that the terms and conditions of the 48th Scheme should be rolled forward again to the 49th Scheme and also offered the option, by informal agreement, of continuing this mechanism for the 50th and 51st Scheme, thus ensuring a period of stability until 31st March 2013. The repeat rollover proposal includes provision for annual adjustments, in line with RPI, to the LBO threshold and to the annual charge on racecourse bookmakers. It also contains provision for renegotiation should there be changes to the fiscal regime during the period of the agreement. At its meeting on 28th April 2009, the Board accepted the Committee’s proposals in respect of the 49th Levy Scheme. However, the representatives of Racing on the Board were not unanimously in favour of the longer term agreement covering the 50th and 51st Schemes but agreed that the matter be kept under review.


The costs of the Committee, which in 2009/10 is £271,000, are met by the Board.

The Bookmakers' Committee
(as at 8th July 2010)

Member		Appointed By
Will Roseff	Chairman	ABB
Thomas Murphy	Vice-Chairman	William Hill plc
Warwick Bartlett		ABB
Howard Chisholm		ABB
Michael Corbett		ABB
Martin Cruddace		Betfair Ltd
Richard Glynn		Ladbrokes plc
Neil Goulden		Gala Coral Group
Keith Johnson		NAB
Richard Lang		Gala Coral Group
Chris Palmer		Ladbrokes plc
Ralph Topping		William Hill plc
Andrew Watson		NAB

General Secretary: Stuart D McInroy BSc FCMI


ABB: appointed by the Association of British Bookmakers
NAB: appointed by the National Association of Bookmakers