BHA

According to the song, this is the season to be jolly but there seems to be a distinct lack of the festive spirit around Betfair HQ on the run up to the holidays. The reason, a perceived and wholly unexpected Christmas hint at camaraderie between the British Horse Racing Association  and previous sworn enemy William Hill. Hills‘ chief executive Ralph Topping, a fierce critic of the BHA‘s leadership and chairman Paul Roy in particular in the recent past, now seems prepared to meet and try to iron out the differences between his company and racing’s ruling body over the amount the levy scheme should be expected to raise towards the upkeep of the sport. I said earlier this was unexpected as it’s only a matter of months since Topping was describing the hierarchy of the BHA as adopting ‘an Oliver Twist mentality’ when it came to financing racing’, which I think meant they were always going to ask for more. But why should this anger Betfair so much? Well Topping, in an interview, has also attacked the amount the betting exchanges contribute in proportion to fixed-odds bookmakers, re-igniting the debate over whether the individuals who use the exchanges to bet against each other should also be liable to some form of tax when wagering on UK horse racing. Betfair, of course, are vehemently opposed to this as any new levy could conceivably deter some larger punters from using the exchanges and they are fearful that William Hill‘s revised stance may only be the tip of an iceberg made up of the country’s other leading layers. Betfair currently volunteer around £1.3million on top of a statuotory levy of more than £6million per year to racing, which may look like a drop in the ocean when you see their annual turnover, but they have already indicated they will withdraw this gratis contribution if the bookmakers and the BHA do decide to, metaphorically, stuff each other’s turkeys on this issue. I’m sure Ebenezer Scrooge would have approved! Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you enjoy a stress-free and prosperous New Year!