RACING: The racing and betting industries will be holding their breath today to see if the Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy moves to increase the betting tax.
Horse Racing Ireland is looking for the rate to be increased from two per cent to three per cent, a move that is vehemently opposed by the off-course bookmakers.
"I can't see the justification for another chunk of cash to be put into racing," said the Ladbrokes spokesman Mike O'Kane yesterday.
"It is a fact that racing is subsidised to the tune of €50 for every person that will walk through the gates at Leopardstown over Christmas and yet it is all coming from the guy in the shop down the road in Dundrum," he added.
"If there is an increase in tax, all it will do is further depress the betting business and send more business overseas which will reduce the tax take.
"The position in the UK and in the global market is to make it tax-free for the consumer," O'Kane declared.
HRI are sticking to their guns on the issue but like the bookmakers they appear to be in the dark about Minister McCreevy's intentions.
"We have got no signals from Finance which is typical because it is always very difficult to know what they are going to do," said the HRI spokesman Michael O'Rourke.
O'Kane was in a similar position yesterday despite having had made representations to the Departments of Finance and Sport.
"I think it will be a close call. I think there are two positions in the Department on this. Some want to increase the tax rate to bring in more cash for racing while others don't want to be seen raising more cash from the consumer.
"If it is increased, I don't think it will be more than one per cent but obviously I hope it won't it be. I believe it would be a retrograde step. But we won't know until it happens," he said.
Many punters in Ireland are currently betting tax free because some bookmakers are covering the two per cent betting tax and the one per cent they have imposed to cover the British Horseracing Board's Data Rights Charge.
Stanley Racing's decision to cover those costs themselves earlier in the year has forced many other firms to follow suit.
A total of €65 million is paid to the horse and greyhound industries from the take on off-course betting.
Sandown's two-day meeting, which begins on Friday, will be the first at which a new device is used to assess the official going at a racecourse. The TurfTrax 'GoingStick', an electro-mechanical device, will be in action at 15 racecourses as the Jockey Club yesterday revealed details for its phased introduction. The stick produces a numerical reading - the GoingIndex - which can be correlated to a recognised going description, such as good to firm.
