William Hill must not be allowed an easy ride out of town | Greg Wood

Racecourses need to carefully consider doing business with bookmakers who have moved their operations offshore There is still no sign of the 2011 fixture list, the publication of which was postponed two weeks ago amid complaints from the British Horseracing Authority that bookmakers are “accessing loopholes to avoid providing fair funding to the sport via the Levy.” William Hill, though, are clearly not expecting anyone in government to close those loopholes any time soon, and yesterday announced that their telephone business is to join the website business in Gibraltar, thereby avoiding both betting duty and Levy responsibilities. It will cost Hills about £7m to close its call centre in Leeds, so if they could sense any imminent move by the government to tighten up on revenue collection, they would surely stay put. Instead, another chunk of turnover will head to the Mediterranean, and where racing bets are concerned, the tax on profits will be around 3%, not the 15% in duty plus 10% in Levy that would disappear in Britain. From racing’s point of view, the loss to the Levy is likely to be more than just the headline figure from the Hills operation.

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