"I hear what [BHA chairman] Paul Roy says, and find there are areas and issues - like exchanges - we can agree on. But when it comes down to it I care about the thousands of staff in our industry workingin shops barely making a profit."


Barely making a living on the wages you pay them would be more accurate you vile individual.

From the RP:


Andrew Scutts 6:55PM 27 MAY 2010 WILLIAM HILL boss Ralph Topping on Thursday called for the abolition of the levy system - labelling it a corrosive influence on racing -and for industry chiefs to wise up and accept the sport cannot be wrapped in cotton wool.

BHA chief executive Nic Coward and Racehorse Owners' Association chairman Paul Dixon have both described the expected fall in levy yield from bookmakers, to no more than £77 million, as a "crisis".


Paul Dixon: levy fall a "crisis"

 


Racing's case for the next levy scheme - from which prize-money is funded - states bookmakers should contribute £130-£150m, an amount highly unlikely to be realised, with Topping claiming the gambling industry is suffering as much as any other given the economic turmoil.

Topping said: "I thought I could not be surprised by anything Nic Coward comes up with. I was wrong.

"In the middle of one of the deepest recessions in UK history there is apparently one vital sector which must be wrapped in cotton wool - racing.

"At a time when every other industry is taking tough decisions to survive, racing reaches for the begging bowl like an alcoholic grabbing for the meths."

He added: "The facts are bookmaker profits in 2009 were down £150 million and costs went up £46 million - there is going to be an obvious impact on the levy. I regret this as much as anyone, but it's a fact.

"I hear what [BHA chairman] Paul Roy says, and find there are areas and issues - like exchanges - we can agree on. But when it comes down to it I care about the thousands of staff in our industry workingin shops barely making a profit.

"Bumping up the levy regardless of how bookmakers are doing is not some victimless strategy - it means people lose jobs. Just look at the demise of Pagebet for an example of how tight margins are.

"This whole episode demonstrates once again that the levy has to go. It is a corrosive influence on racing."

The expansion of the fixture list, from 1,158 in 2002, when the levy yield was £80m, to more than 1,500 with a levy yield of less than that, is being discussed with a view to scaling it back in 2011, a move Topping would support, along with a wider spread of attractive fixtures through the week, rather than loaded on Saturdays.

‘Too much racing' was a call echoed on Thursday by the bosses of Ludlow and Newton Abbot, the type of tracks Coward has warned could go to the wall given the funding ‘crisis'.

Bob Davies, for Ludlow, and Newton Abbot's Pat Masterson defended their track's viability.

Davies said: "On current projections we'll be profitable this year, but I bet some big courses won't be.

"Our contribution to prize-money through executive and sponsorship is £125,000 for 13 fixtures, so around £9,000 a day - you could take two noughts off that with other courses."

He added: "We have gone too far in putting on crap all-weather meetings as betting shop fodder for very bad horses. It has downgraded the product.

"There's a finite amount of money punters are prepared to lose, so it was always a fallacy to think more fixtures would mean more profit for racing through the levy. Bookmaker gross profits are probably the same with 1,200 fixtures as with 1,500."

Masterson said: "There are far too many fixtures, they keep onincreasing. Ours has remained steady at 18 for years. It's disappointing the levy has dwindled so much in so short a period of time. Something must be done."

thanks for that heynoodles. 

some interesting points in amongst the bookie propoganda.

They should do as Topping says and abolish the levy,

I am sure we can still boast "it's the best racing in the world" like we are now !

No problem, outpost.

Millhouse, I should imagine they are fast realising that.

All out war looks ahead between racing and the big bookmakers because surely anyone working in the sport can't be happy with his comments.

Topping - Beelzebub

Roy -     Disciple