Annual Review and Outlook 2019
Line, a multi-channel helpline available 24 hours a day, plus a range of online resources to help people. Racing Homes is the charity’s housing association, which provides subsidised accommodation for those who meet a set criteria. In 2018, Racing Welfare provided support or interventions on a total of 10,518 occasions, with services accessed through Racing’s Support Line in particular. Within this, the charity’s Welfare Officers provided direct support to 2,386 people, which was a year-on- year increase of 13%. Racing Welfare issued grants totalling £227,428 to improve people’s health and wellbeing in 2018, which was a 3% increase year- on-year. A detailed update on Racing Welfare’s activities is included later in the ‘Force For Good’ section of this Annual Review, as Racing Welfare represents a cornerstone of The Jockey Club’s contribution to British Racing. INDUSTRY FUNDING OUTLOOK We are finalising this Review as the final quarter of the 2018/19 Levy returns have come in £11 million below Levy Board expectations. To lose funding of this magnitude is a bitter blow for the sport. If identified as a structural issue with the system, such as a loophole, it would be a tough pill to swallow given the successful effort that went into reforming the Levy only recently.
This comes at a time when British Racing is starting to feel the knock-on impact of changes to gambling legislation, which is leading to the closure of a significant number of betting shops around the UK in 2019 and over the next few years. We sell media rights to betting shops and so fewer of them reduces this revenue line and also the Levy if a punter does not head elsewhere. Both the timing and number of closures is important, but various estimates suggest a negative impact for British Racing of between £40 million and £60 million by 2021. Ours is a highly resilient sport and industry, and I am confident the revenue lines within our direct influence can grow and things will be back in shape after a period of correction. However, I am concerned about how the negative impact will play out at the coal-face of the sport over the next couple of years. LESS RACING = LESS FUNDING It has been interesting to observe and experience relations between racing’s stakeholders with these financial challenges facing the sport. At a time when we need to come together, unfortunately there is a level of mistrust in some cases about the gravity of the situation or a lack of agreement that pain is shared. I am also concerned there is a real misunderstanding
18
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online