Government pushes for voluntary levy deal between racing and betting, says Racing Post.

The government had asked ministers to raise the levy rate and extend the sports funding system to capture a share of money bet on overseas racing by British punters. This also included a call for the government to drop affordability checks on punters or provide racing with a carve out from the proposals. The gambling white paper in April promised to review the levy to ensure racing did not suffer financially from the impact of affordability checks. Racing and betting were asked to come up with a voluntary deal, as there is no legislative opportunity to make changes.

The gambling minister is expected to report back to parliament on the progress of talks in the coming days. Lord Herbert’s letter called on ministers to adopt the outlined measures to repair the perception that government policy has unintentionally undermined the nation’s second most popular spectator sport. The DCMS spokesperson emphasized that these checks are part of a wider range of measures being introduced to protect those most at risk of gambling harm. The culture secretary is expected to respond to Lord Herbert’s letter soon.