Horserace Betting Levy Board

The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) has allocated an extra £4.4 million to prize-money for 2026 compared to this year, following a further increase in the Levy yield to just shy of £109 million - the highest since the 2017 reforms that extended the scope of the Levy to overseas betting operators. Details of the statutory Levy - which climbed to £108.9 million, up from £105.3 million the previous year - were released on Wednesday as the HBLB published its 2024/25 Annual Report and Accounts. This increase came despite a third consecutive year...

The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) is inviting applications for non-fixture related grants for the period January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026. The application window opens on July 14 and closes on August 22. Applications are welcomed for projects and activities that support HBLB's Statutory Objectives and the 13 Racing Outcomes as set out in HBLB's Business Plan. This process excludes race fixture-related items such as prize-money and raceday service grants or items falling within HBLB's veterinary science and education budget. Grant applications must be made online using the...

Great British Bonus (GBB) payouts to breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff across the country have surpassed £20 million, from nearly 1,500 individual bonuses, after the George Scott-trained Pixie Diva earned a £10,000 bonus with her success at Lingfield last week. The GBB scheme was launched in 2020, with majority funding from the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), designed to create value and increase demand for British-bred fillies. In 2022, the number of annual individual British-bred fillies running exceeded pre-Covid levels, while GBB-registered fillies sold for an average of...

The Horseracing Industry People Board (HIPB) announced on Thursday that it has secured funding from the Racing Foundation and Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) to support the implementation of its immediate programme of activity for 2025. The funding approval follows the publication earlier this year of Our People, Racing's Future, an industry-backed strategy to attract and retain a highly-skilled and well-supported workforce across British racing and breeding. The Racing Foundation and HBLB have agreed funding grants of £489,929 and £269,438, respectively--a combined contribution of over £759,000. Julia Tyson, chair of...

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and Great British Racing (GBR) have today announced the launch of a new campaign to promote HorsePWR, the industry-led initiative aimed at increasing public engagement with British racing and reinforcing confidence in the sport's high welfare standards. This latest phase of the campaign represents British racing's most significant public-facing, welfare-themed promotional campaign to date. It has been made possible by funding from the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) and will run from February 24 through to April 6, featuring targeted advertising across print, online and...

The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) published its 2023/24 Annual Report & Accounts on Tuesday. They revealed that the HBLB's statutory Levy income to the year ended Sunday, March 31 was £105m, the highest since the reforms of 2017 which added to the scope of the Levy non-retail bets placed in Great Britain with betting operators based overseas. This £105m surpassed the £100m in 2022/23 and was achieved against a backdrop of a further fall in betting turnover (amount staked) which, as in 2022/23, was mitigated by improved margins and...

A total of £2.3 million will be invested on disease surveillance, veterinary science and education programming by the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) beginning in 2024. In addition to the ongoing Infectious Disease Surveillance Programme, the new activity will include: six major research projects four small research projects one research scholarship. All of the work will be managed by the HBLB's Veterinary Advisory Committee (VAC). Making contributions alongside the HBLB are the British European Breeders' Fund (BEBF), the Gerald Leigh Charitable Trust, The Racing Foundation and the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association...

If you follow Alan Delmonte on Twitter or X, or whatever they call it these days, you will know him for his offbeat sense of humour. But as chief executive of the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) for the past 11 years, he has one of the most serious jobs in British racing, overseeing the distribution of around £100m a year. Delmonte is, to some extent, the sport's Chancellor of the Exchequer, but there is an awful lot of important work going on behind the scenes at the Levy Board that make...

The third annual National Racehorse Week, from Sept. 9-17 in the UK, has been deemed a success after a record number of open days and community events, Great British Racing (GBR), who funds the initiative alongside the Racing Foundation and Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), announced on Tuesday. Over 15,000 free places were made available across the seven days across the country for the public to come and experience a day in the life of a racehorse. From training facilities and studs, to aftercare and rehoming centres, 209 different events...

A record 75-plus employee teams from across racing volunteered in their local communities, volunteering 700 hours for over 40 charities, making it a record year for the May 25 Racing Together Community Day. A wide range of racing organisations signed up for the fifth Racing Together Community Day, engaging with the communities in which they operate in a number of ways. One specific growth area was among the training yards--11 volunteered this year. The team at Kubler Racing delivered homemade cakes to the elderly in Lambourn while staff at Susan...

Over £10 million in bonuses have now been paid out by the Great British Bonus (GBB) scheme, the organisation announced on Friday. Started three years previously, the scheme incentivises and rewards the breeding, buying and racing of British-bred fillies by awarding bonuses of up to £20,000 per race. GBB Operations Executive, Charlie Newton said, "We are thrilled to have reached this record milestone. The scheme arrived at a time when it was desperately needed. Not only were we feeling the impact of Covid-19 and Brexit, but the breeding industry had...

The Retraining of Racehorses Showcase will return live at Hartpury University and College in Gloucestershire on Saturday, Apr. 23. Supported by the Horserace Betting Levy Board, the RoR Showcase is dedicated to displaying the versatility of retrained racehorses. There will be a superb line-up of star former racehorses working with top equestrian experts, trainers and top riders, who will give visitors an inspirational day of live demos, close-up clinics, displays, advice and expertise. Tickets are £15 per ticket (saving £5), or car share special of three tickets for two at...