All horseracing fixtures have been cancelled on Wednesday 10th September, creating an ideal opportunity to talk about the benefits that accrue to society from the sport, and why it’s vital they don’t get overlooked during the Chancellor’s search for solutions to fill the government’s financial hole.

Having evolved at the dawn of civilisation, horseracing has been a sport for as long as men sat on horses. The first written account of a horserace appears in the Iliad, where prizes for the first five home are listed as: a woman skilled in fine handicrafts, a six-year-old mare (in-foal), a cauldron, two gold talents, and a two-handled bowl. It didn’t take long for disputes to arise (in that first account, which took place as part of the funeral games for King Agamemnon, the “stewards” redistributed the prizes following accounts of foul play), nor for spectators to start betting on the outcome.

Beware Greek Horses

In the 12th Century, when the Lanark Bell became one of the first horseraces in Britain to be recorded, the owners of the horses would put up stakes with the winner taking all. Spectators would pool their own stakes together too and hey-presto: tipsters were born (Saturday’s selection is Jet Patrol in the final race of the evening at Stratford), and bookmakers to take our money.

Off-course betting was legalised in 1961 (it was already legal to bet at the races) and the Horserace Betting Levy, a fee paid by bookmakers, was introduced to compensate the sport for the loss of spectators who would no longer be required to attend the racecourse in order to legally place a bet. Funds from the levy were not only used to implement integrity services (preventing foul play and resolving disputes), but also to replace ad hoc trophies, like servant girls and in-foal mares, with prize money that actively incentivised the owning and breeding of racehorses for the advancement of the sport.

Today, British horseracing is a major part of the sport and tourism industry, contributing £4.1 billion a year to the UK economy and supporting 85,000 jobs nationwide, including 3,400 jobs in Scotland. On top of the levy paid by bookmakers to racing, the sport currently generates £300 million in tax revenue for the government.

A self-financing enterprise which delivers entertainment, hope, economic activity, jobs and a tax dividend: it’d be easy to mistake horseracing for a goose that lays golden eggs…

But all of that is being put at risk by a Treasury consultation proposing measures that would tax horserace bets at the same rate as online slot machines. Taken together with the levy, this tax rate harmonization would make horseracing a significantly more expensive product for betting operators who would then be incentivised to promote betting on cheaper online slots and casino games – which don’t offer the same social benefits as racing, offer no cultural value and are associated with higher levels of addiction.

After several centuries of horseracing, there’ll be a short pause on Wednesday to talk about how important the sport is to society – not just those that enjoy rocking up at Kelso, but their neighbours too, who reap the economic benefits to the country as a whole.