Last year saw the historically close relationship between horse racing and betting was pushed to its limits during a fiery debate around taxation – but can this relationship recover?
The way in which people from across our industry answer that question is still a mixed bag.
Flutter Entertainment, for example, is working closely with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) on initiatives to grow the sport, but others like Star Sports and BetGoodwin anticipate a rollback of their racing activity.
“It was sadly, a show of ignorance and arrogance and typically, not working or standing together,” reflects Ben Keith, Founder of Star Sports, looking back on the campaigning ahead of last year’s budget announcement.
This sentiment is not uncommon across British betting in 2026, with horse racing’s #AxeTheRacingTax campaign seemingly leaving a bad taste in some operators’ mouths – but it’s not a ubiquitous sentiment
All smiles around Cheltenham Festival?
This week stands out as one of the biggest of the year for both betting and horse racing: the annual Cheltenham Festival. As usual, the four-day event is expected to catch the attention of both racing enthusiasts and casual bettors alike.
It is also taking place just a couple of weeks ahead of the implementation of the UK’s new tax framework – a doubling of Remote Gaming Duty from 21% to 40%, which will hit online casinos the hardest, and next year General Betting Duty will also increase.
Going into the festival, racing and betting stakeholders are undeniably optimistic. A spokesperson for the BHA reaffirmed to SBC News that the experience of the average racegoer will be ‘a positive one’, in part thanks to the ‘variety of improvements’ made by The Jockey Club to the racetrack.
“We are anticipating a strong British challenge at this year’s Festival to match the strength of the Irish contingent who compete in the top races each year,” the BHA’s spokesperson told SBC News.
“With potentially more open and competitive races, this in turn will make these a more attractive betting product for racing fans and boost turnover which is imperative for British racing’s finances.
“The BHA continues to work collaboratively with The Jockey Club to ensure that the race programme at The Festival delivers a compelling racing product for fans.”
Bookmakers are similarly expecting a good week from Cheltenham, as Flutter, Star Sports, Entain, bet365 and Fitzdares have all detailed to SBC News over the past couple of days.
However, once the dust settles on Cheltenham and the Grand National, questions hang over how this relationship between betting and racing will continue to evolve. On the one hand, retail has been spared the worst of the tax rises, and this is an aspect of betting which has long had a strong connection to racing.
“Horse racing is by far still the most bet on sport in UK betting-shops,” says Keith, a sentiment shared with Flutter Entertainment’s Chief Commercial Officer, Ben Reilly.
“Football may well have overtaken horse racing now in an absolute sense, and there are issues that need resolving, but betting and racing have this great, symbiotic relationship and we’re incredibly proud of our relationship with and support of the sport,” Reilly told SBC’s roundtable.
To say that betting and racing need each other is stating the obvious. The sport counts heavily on betting as a financial lifeline, be it through sponsorships, media rights payments and the racing betting levy.
One of these topics is where a big question mark hangs, however – marketing.
Can betting bury the hatchet?
For anyone watching Cheltenham this week, the betting marketing will be hard to ignore. Sky Bet, William Hill, Paddy Power, Unibet and BetMGM are all sponsoring at least one race each, with Paddy Power and BetMGM sponsoring two.
However, Entain announced earlier this year that it would be cutting one of its biggest sponsorships in UK racing – the Coral Cup, a race dating back to 1993. Since then, BetMGM and bet365 have both confirmed exits from sponsoring other UK meetings.
Star Sports’ Keith has some harsh words to share on the topic of racing marketing. He remarked: “We will be sponsoring less, as racing were warned by all bookmakers, before they foolishly jumped into bed with punter-sympathisers.
“Our sponsorship of the Greyhound Derby will continue, as the Greyhound Racing community are loyal in giving us their custom and the sport grateful for our support. It is a shame that horse racing and the BHA has no respect for its little brother at the dogs.”
Star Sports is not alone in predicting a rollback of its racing activity. BetGoodwin, which has traditionally focused heavily on racing as a core product and part of its brand and marketing, expressed a similar view to the Nick Luck podcast shortly after the budget, for example.
However, while cutbacks to marketing are expected, some appear to be focusing more on product. Bet365, which as mentioned above has also begun making cuts to its racing sponsorship budget, still has ambitions for its racing product development.
“Horse racing remains a core part of our proposition and since last year’s sestival, we’ve continued to invest in ways to bring customers closer to the action,” said Jon Riley, bet365’s PR Operations Manager. “Position Payout will be making its debut at Prestbury Park, where the higher the finish for your horse, the more you win.
“Reflecting our commitment to horse racing and our dedication to innovation, Position Payout has delivered a premium betting experience for our new and existing customers since launch, and we’re excited to see it in action in some of the most highly anticipated races in the sport.
“Returning for a fourth Festival will be bet365’s daily Super Boost. Supported with a TV and digital advertising campaign, customers can access our amazing Super Boost each day of the Festival from 9am, with a selection of other price boosts available across every race too.”
Some doubts have been raised online about the sentiment behind betting’s racing sponsorship cutbacks. Thomas Savill, Director of Plumpton Racecourse, has been vocal on X (formerly Twitter) lately, pointing out that so far the only sponsorship cuts have been in racing – but not in any other major sports.
The fact that bookmakers are going for racing first when reducing marketing budgets could just be a sign that other sports, like football, take priority. It could be a sign that for some, the relationship between the two has taken a bit of a nose dive.
No hatchet to bury
This is not the case for Flutter, however. The company, one of the world’s largest gambling PLCs, has been actively working with the BHA on initiatives to grow and develop racing, holding an event with tech startups in London earlier this year – the Future of Racing Summit.
“The tax increases will have an impact,” Reilly acknowledged.” You can’t increase the tax take on an industry by over £1bn and there not be an impact.
“But at Flutter we have the benefit of some of the best brands in the industry and we’ll continue to invest in both delivering great propositions and growing our customer base.
“We already invest £100m in racing every year and it’s absolutely a core part of what we do.”
The BHA remains confident in its relationship with betting. This is despite the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) having a bit of a spat with the organisation last year due to the #AxeTheRacingTax campaign. In the midst of this, Flutter’s work with the BHA continued.
“As I’ve said we have strong links with racing and mutual interest in growing the sport,” said Reilly. “Clearly last year the tax debate strained the relationship at times, and some of the actions from some parts of racing were a bit shortsighted in my view, but really, it’s time to draw a line now, to move on and work together to win together.”
“Gambling in general is coming under attack, and the tax increases will obviously have an impact. We’re already seeing that with some of the decisions around sponsorship that have been taken this year. But the relationship with racing will continue to be incredibly close.”
For Reilly, the future of the relationship between betting and racing will require both sides to ‘work together to build interest in racing, while acknowledging the economic challenges that face both industries and finding ways to address them’.
“It was really encouraging to see Flutter and the BHA come together recently at the Future of Racing Summit which explored some really interesting ways to engage new fans,” he added. “It was great to see businesses from outside of the sport talk so positively about some of the great opportunities they see for racing.”
Rebuilding bridges
Some media outlets, particularly the Guardian, had been reporting earlier in 2025 that a rift was growing between racing and gaming as the former sought to distinguish itself as a lower-harm product in comparison to casino and slots products.
The notion that racing is a less harmful product than other forms of betting was taken up by the Social Market Foundation (SMF), as a recent Freedom of Information request to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) revealed.
The BGC was then openly disappointed when the BHA and other racing stakeholders organised a strike on 10 September as a protest against any potential tax hikes on the sport. A demonstration was also held outside parliament that day.
Several months on since both the strike and the budget, the BHA told SBC News: “The BHA has also worked to strengthen relationships with the betting sector following the Government’s budget announcements.
“This includes identifying shared areas of focus such as tackling the growth of the black market, with the BHA being allocated a seat on the new DCMS task force addressing this issue.
“Collaborative initiatives such as the Future of Racing innovation programme with Flutter demonstrate the BHA’s commitment to working positively with wagering operators and maintaining strong partnerships across the industry.
“Given the importance of betting to some of racing’s key revenue streams, it is important that horse racing continues to carry strong appeal as a betting product versus other products and finding out what works can only be achieved through working closely with the betting industry.”
“We want to continue to collaborate with betting for the mutual benefit of all parties.”
Racing and betting clearly have shared objectives, that is abundantly clear. Both want to see a reduction in black market activity, with the BGC now estimating that up to 9% of UK betting volume goes through unlicensed operators.
Bookmakers also clearly see the value in racing, but attitudes to how the two can work together moving forward remain sharply divided. The wounds of last year’s strike and the failure to unify against tax hikes are still felt by some.
For Keith, the future of the relationship between racing and betting requires some substantial structural changes in the latter – taking aim at the role the Arena Racing Company (ARC) and Racecourse Media Group (RMG) play in the modern sport.
“They have never worked together and never will,” Keith asserted, regarding racing and betting’s relationship. “Racing and punters have always wanted more and more. Nothing has ever been enough.
“The streaming costs have broken the interest and point of making an effort. Regulations, that punters thought would have been in their favour, have simply f****d it for everyone. Margins will get worse. And we will all lose together.
“I believe racing’s way forward is to use the Levy Board’s incredible cashflow and slowly buy back racecourses and have ownership and control of the sport and its income. When you sell something, you don’t own it anymore, that means you aren’t able to make your own decisions.
“A sport has sold itself and is now beholden to ARC and RMG. It will take many years, but I believe the best way is to slowly buy this back.”