"The rise in gambling tax is an existential threat to dog racing"
Mark Bird, CEO of the GBGB was quoted in The Sun newspaper on Tuesday talking about the potential disaster that raising gambling tax would have.
Raising gambling tax would risk jobs
In case you missed it yesterday, GBGB CEO Mark Bird was quoted in The Sun newspaper on Tuesday, saying "the rise in gambling tax is an existential threat to dog racing". The discussion was around the budget on October 28 where a rise in gambling tax could be a huge blow to the sport.
There are more than 7,000 people employed in greyhound racing around the country, and the ties to the bookmaking industry and to the levy mean that any further rise on what bookmakers are already paying could have serious repercussions in the sport.
It is a subject that has a huge divide down the middle. There have been many excellent Editor's Chair columns on the subject from Floyd Amphlett in the Greyhound Star days, about the sport being tied too closely and far too heavily reliant to bookmakers.
There is certainly a large volume of people who believe that the chickens are coming home to roost after the bookmakers have had things all their own way for too long. Given how difficult it can be to get bets on at the bookmakers on the sport, it can be hard to have sympathy on occasion.
However, gambling prohibitionists will push things to the limit when it comes to dictating what the general public can do with their own money. Anyone who saw the absolute car crash of a panel from More In Common and the Coalition to End Gambling Ads at the Labour Conference should be left in no doubt the danger that those blinkered against us can inflict with their lack of knowledge.
The Sun are running a 'Save Our Bets' campaign ahead of the budget which if possible needs support, though they too are not everyone's cup of tea!
The upcoming weeks ahead of the budget are going to be very interesting to say the least.
