THE IRISH racing industry is bracing itself ahead of today’s emergency Budget with speculation that Government funding is under threat.
With increasing focus on the controversial Horse Greyhound Fund in the midst of the current economic crisis, there appears to be growing unease about the long-term funding of the sport.
Minister for Sport Martin Cullen has already said it is not sustainable for the Exchequer to continue to support racing in the manner it has since the fund began in 2001.
Although revenue from tax on Ireland’s betting shops, and with on-course bookmakers, goes to the fund, the take has declined from 2001’s figure of €68 million to last year’s €38 million, with the balance picked up by the Government.
Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) have said the future for the sport’s financing should come from betting turnover, and pointed to the increasing business of telephone and internet betting which has swelled into a €1.5 billion levy-free industry in Ireland.
Major bookmaking chains have already claimed any tax on overseas telephone betting will hit jobs in the betting industry. The major internet betting exchange firm, Betfair, pays a voluntary levy of 10 per cent on their Irish profits, which yields just over €1 million a year to HRI.
In the short term, HRI are focusing on today’s Budget, and chief executive Brian Kavanagh said yesterday: “We are bracing ourselves for what comes through. Clearly there are going to be cuts everywhere and we will have to see what happens.”
The Horse Greyhound Fund is divided 80-20 between horses and dogs, and following last October’s Budget the overall fund was reduced by €6.6 million to €69.7 million. Racing’s share amounted to approximately €55 million.
That reduction resulted in a seven per cent cut in prize-money levels for 2009 as well as a big reduction in HRI’s racecourse capital development fund.
Some high-profile trainers and owners have outlined what they believe will be the outcome of a further reduction in prize-money, which they say propels a sport and an industry that employs up to 16,500 people in this country.
“I would certainly hope the current level of financing from Government continues,” Dermot Weld said yesterday, “because racing is an integral part of this country and it is a huge employer, especially in rural Ireland.”
Weld added: “On the back of that, the only change I would make is that racing would go back to being covered by the Department of Agriculture and not the Department of Sport.”
