Racing makes counter-offer to BGC as levy reform talks continue in atmosphere of 'good faith'

British racing has presented a counter-proposal to the offer made last week by the Betting and Gaming Council, as negotiations over reform of the levy continue in what BHA chief executive Julie Harrington characterised as an atmosphere of "good faith".

Acting on behalf of the betting industry, the BGC tabled an offer last week which committed to a percentage increase in the levy but with the extra funds dedicated to "investing in promoting, marketing and growing the sport". While declining to give specific details of the sport's renewed offer, Harrington said the BHA was not in principle opposed to some form of ring-fencing of funds. 

The two sides are working against a deadline of the end of April, with the gambling minister Stuart Andrew telling the BGC's annual general meeting last Thursday that no parliamentary time would be available for legislation to change the levy. 

When challenged on whether the conditions attached by the BGC represented a significant stumbling block to reaching common ground, Harrington said the BHA was not fundamentally opposed. 

“Some of what you might describe as ‘strings attached’, we wouldn’t see as a barrier to doing a deal," said Harrington. 

"If that means that both parties are in agreement the money is to be used to be used for a specific cause that gets us all pointing in the same direction – whether that cause is promoting the sport – then we don’t really see that as a negative, hence the discussions continuing in good faith.

The BGC's Michael Dugher urged racing to "grasp the nettle" of levy reform last week

"We have had an offer from betting, via the BGC. We have today gone back to them with a counter-offer and I will be meeting the minister later in the afternoon to update him on how those discussions are going. He is strongly encouraging racing and betting to come to a voluntary agreement that isn’t going to need legislation, because we’ll run out of parliamentary time."

Harrington said she would not be sharing details of the counter-offer, adding: "I really think it’s important that whenever there’s a negotiation going on, you have to have trust on both sides. And also DCMS need to see that we’re not trying to apply undue pressure." 

In a separate development, Harrington said she was hopeful there would be concrete proposals on a more uniform approach to interim affordability checks when the Gambling Commission issues its findings from the first round of consultations on last April's Gambling Act white paper.

One of the biggest frustrations for the betting public has been the scattergun approach different betting operators have taken to assessing their customers' finances, while betting turnover has been damaged by the so-called 'interim checks' as people have refused to hand over sensitive financial data.

"One big step forward is people in the risk departments of those bookmakers working with BGC to get an agreement to their approach to [interim] financial risk checks," said Harrington. "One of the issues has been the Gambling Commission are asking them to do checks, but not necessarily agreeing what best practice looks like or the how. 

"I think there have been some really positive meetings with betting operators and the Gambling Commission to really flesh out what that means, so that you’ve not got one person interpreting in a far more draconian way than somebody else. That has got to be a step forward for all of our customers."

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