Does the state fund Horse Racing too much?

[pete]

This has come up in various other threads so thought deserved its own.

from what I can tell the state grants Horse Racing Ireland over 50m+ a year of which it contributes over 30m euro to horse racing prize.

The HRI pays for more than 50% of all prize money.

[Dodge]

How much does it bring into the economy Pete? Tourism, tax, ancillaries?

[cullenswood]

How much does it bring into the economy Pete? Tourism, tax, ancillaries?

Exacltly, it brings in far more than the goverment pays out. It is a good investment and an easy target for people to knock.

[pete]

Well 50m is just the amount the state gives to the HRI. How much is lost in tax free stuff farms? Surely same again at the very least.

How many people travel TO Ireland to watch Horse Racing. If you read the HRI reports only a 300,000 increase in attendances in last 5 years - how many non-irish people. If not getting extra people into the country you just recycling irish money.

If the argument is employment then fund from Department of Enterprise & not Sport. The HRI gets 50m yet the IRFU, FAI & GAA barely get 10m combined.

Because of the subsidies i think irish prize money is greater than the UK which means they travel here & take the cash back to the Uk.

[Dodge]

Prize money same/less than in UK for standard events. I'd guess less than 20 foreign winners in Ireland last year (comapred to 50/60) irish winners in UK.

1000s employed in horse racing industry in Ireland, and there are way more people coming into ireland to watch racing thatn any other sport. In fact i'd say thatn all the others combined

[CollegeTillIDie]

YES ! Open and shut really!

[Volcán Masaya]

This has come up in various other threads so thought deserved its own.

from what I can tell the state grants Horse Racing Ireland over 50m+ a year of which it contributes over 30m euro to horse racing prize.

The HRI pays for more than 50% of all prize money.

Er, you do realise that the money comes from levy on betting, right? It's not the government giving tax payers money to racing. How else to you fund racing if you don't use betting money? Part of it comes from the Tote, but the majority is tax paid by bookies on gross profits. If it wasn't for racing the bookies wouldn't have jobs, so it's in their interest to fund racing.

Just to give you another example, in the US almost all racing is funded by the take from the Pari-Mutuel betting (around 7% of all bets placed). The have very few sponsored races, outside of a few of the big races, everything is funded by money from the Tote. So the game is basically self funding.

I'm suprised that it's only 50% in Ireland, they should hit the bookies up for more and increase the purses.

Just to clarify, the money is from betting levy on horseracing, so if you don't bet on horses, then none of your money is going towards purses. It's not like the government is taking money out of your paycheck and giving to racehorse owners.
Not sure if it was intentional or not, but your thread title is misleading.

[pete]

I don't think state funding comes 100% from betting levys although obviously its a large part. I also do not believe that betting on other sports is excluded as same tax on all off course forms of betting. As off course taxes on betting have been reducing i don't see how funding could be increasing.

The irish government have 100% funded the capital projects for horse & dog racing which i don't think has any betting tax input.

I read that the tax free stud fees was actually damaging irish horse blood lines as too many foals being produced as its tax free which is diluting the strength of the blood lines or something...

[Dodge]

There is no tax on betting in Ireland. Bookies pay tax on profits, the same as every other company in Ireland. Individual punters are not taxed in the vast vast majority of shops and certainly not on course.

[Volcán Masaya]

I don't think state funding comes 100% from betting levys although obviously its a large part.

HORSE AND GREYHOUND RACING ACT, 2001 SECTION 12
(4) The Minister shall pay into the Fund out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, in the year 2002 and in each subsequent year, an amount, determined by the Revenue Commissioners, equivalent to the revenue from excise duty on off-course betting paid into the Exchequer in the preceding year or the year 2000 increased by reference to the Consumer Price Index, whichever is the greater.

In 2004 the number that HRI recieved from Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund was €53mill. They also of course run the Tote and get money from that. No taxpayers were harmed in the filming of this movie.

Btw, the HRI only funds 60% of prizemoney. Like I've already said, in many countries in the world racing is funded almost entirely by the takeout of pati-mutuel Tote betting (no bookies). If anything the Irish Punter and Irish Bookie are getting off lightly. When you consider that in 2004 a total of €2.5 Billion was wagered on horses in Ireland, giving back 2% only seems fair.

I'm not sure exactly what your beef is here? Do you somehow think that the governement is funding prize money?

[pete]

So off course betting tax on GAA, Football & golf is part funding horse racing?

My "beef" is the disproportionate funding of the horse & dog racing industries in comparison with the biggest sports in this country.