The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) published its 2023/24 Annual Report & Accounts on Tuesday. They revealed that the HBLB's statutory Levy income to the year ended Sunday, March 31 was £105m, the highest since the reforms of 2017 which added to the scope of the Levy non-retail bets placed in Great Britain with betting operators based overseas.
This £105m surpassed the £100m in 2022/23 and was achieved against a backdrop of a further fall in betting turnover (amount staked) which, as in 2022/23, was mitigated by improved margins and gross win (amount retained by bookmakers after returns to customers, the basis of the Levy calculation).
Levy income of £105m, plus investment income of over £3m, enabled the Board to achieve a surplus of £13.7m, the first significant surplus of the post-Covid period. This followed operating deficits in the wake of Covid.
The Board also pays tribute in the report to Paul Darling OBE KC, who died suddenly and unexpectedly in August 2024. The Board notes that he gave 10 years of service to the Board–six as a Board member from 2008 to 2014 and a further four as chairman from 2020–and that his passing has deprived the sport of one of its best known and most influential industry figures.
The Annual Report & Accounts record that betting turnover has continued to fall in 2024/25 to date but that margins have not so far compensated for this. On current estimates this will lead to a lower Levy yield in 2024/25 than last year.
In his chief executive's statement, Alan Delmonte notes that, “The Board is itself not privy to the commercial information around individual bookmakers' businesses. However, it is clear that there has been a material change in the industry environment with turnover down by around 20% in two years.
“There is bound to be an interplay of factors causing this, including the impacts of risk-based financial checks by operators, in particular on higher-staking customers, and changes to certain turnover-based commercial rights deals. The Board has also observed changes in the types and frequency of promotions of betting on British racing, also likely to have had a downward effect on turnover levels.”
The Annual Report & Accounts, formally audited by the National Audit Office, provide comprehensive information about the Board's work throughout 2023/24, including its substantial investment in prize money, regulation and integrity, horse welfare, equine disease surveillance and prevention, veterinary science and education as well as the sport's people training and education projects.
The 2023/24 Annual Report & Accounts are available in full here.
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