Horserace Betting Levy Board

The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), commonly abbreviated to the Levy Board, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in the United Kingdom. It is a statutory body established by the Betting Levy Act 1961 and is now operating in accordance with the provisions of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963 (as amended).

Unlike some other non-departmental public bodies, the Levy Board receives no central Government grant-in-aid or National Lottery funding. Instead, it is required by the Act to collect a statutory levy from the horse racing business of bookmakers which it then distributes for the improvement of horse racing and breeds of horses and for the advancement of veterinary science and education.

In the year to 31 March 2021, levy yield was £82m, down from £97m in the previous year. This was due principally to the temporary suspension of racing during April and May 2020 following the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite an anticipated fall in income, the Levy Board agreed to make contributions to racing significantly above normal during that year, drawing on its reserves, meeting additional regulatory costs incurred in relation to staging race fixtures, issuing loans and increasing its grants to race prize money. The latter made up partially for the reduced contributions from racecourses arising from the absence of paying crowds at race meetings for most of the year.

In a normal year, the largest share of the levy is spent on race prize money, but it also provides funding for regulation and integrity services, racing and breeding industry training and education, projects for the benefit of the thoroughbred horse, loans to racecourses for capital projects and resources for various other activities pursuant to the organisation's statutory objectives.

Chairs

* Field Marshal The Lord Harding (1963–1967)
* The Lord Wigg (1967–1972)
* Sir Stanley Raymond (1972–1974)
* Sir Desmond Plummer (1974–1980)
* Sir Ian Trethowan (1980–1991)
* Sir John Sparrow (1991–1999)
* Robert Hughes CBE (1999–2008)
* Paul Lee OBE (2009–2020)
* Paul Darling OBE QC (2020– )

References

External links

Horserace Betting Levy Board

Horse racing organisations in Great Britain
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government

{{horseracing-stub