CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves is considering a betting tax rise — placing the struggling racing industry at fresh risk of ruin.
The Treasury wants to lift the levy for punts on the gee-gees from 15 to 21 per cent to put in on a par with online gaming, slot machines and casinos.
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Critics argue the move would see less sponsorship, prize money and support from the betting giants that keep the racing industry alive.
Any new rate would be announced in a Budget.
Ministers have already proposed replacing the General Betting Duty, which applies to racing, and the Remote Gaming Duty, with a single Remote Betting and Gaming Duty.
It would be applied to all bets, regardless of where they are laid, and comes as punters increasingly use mobile devices to place wagers.
Grainne Hurst, boss of the Betting and Gaming Council, said equalising the tax rates would be “catastrophic for racing’s fragile finances”.
She said a new rise, so soon after a White Paper which cost the sector more than a billion pounds, “will not raise more money for the Treasury”.
She said it was likely to force firms to push investment and jobs overseas.
Punters, she added, would turn to the gambling black market online which pays no tax and has no safer gambling protections.
The Treasury insisted the changes would not affect high street bookies and bingo halls and cut red tape for firms by reducing the number of returns they have to make.
It said no exact rates had yet been decided.