British puters contribute 6 billion!

Does anyone have numbers and jobs for SA?

Betting contributes £6bn to economy, says report

THE British betting industry contributes, directly or indirectly, a total of £6 billion and 100,000 jobs to the British economy a year, according to a new report released by Deloitte on Tuesday.

The report, commissioned by Ladbrokes, also reveals that the contribution from betting to British horseracing has amounted to £1 billion over the last ten years.

The study, which mirrors work carried out by another division of the same company for the BHA on British horseracing published last September, is mainly intended to stress the importance of the betting industry to Britain's economy for the benefit of parliament, government departments and their advisors, Ladbrokes chief executive Chris Bell said.


He said: "We need to remind Westminster and Whitehall that this not an industry made up of people running a couple of betting shops and driving round in Zephyr 6s.


"It's a very important industry, which generates £6bn worth of gross value to the taxpayer, and on which nearly 41,000 jobs depend directly, which is as many as the newspaper publishing business, and another 62,000 jobs depend indirectly.


"It's also important to highlight the balance between taxation and regulation, which is absolutely vital to the future of the betting industry.

"For the last three or four years the betting industry has been becalmed. There's a need to move forward."

We need to look at RSA in relation to the EU countries susch as the UK.
I dont have the UK stats, but have some for Italy...which compares close to SOuth Africa in numbers.

Italy - 70 million - citzens - 60 million South Africa
Italy - 21 million - taxpayers - 6 million South Africa
Italy - 27 million - students - 25 million South Africa
Italy - 22 Million - pensioners - 29 million South africa


South Africa currently has 7 million tax payers, but after 2010 we will be on 6 million.


see the difference in tax payers and then we look at the ability of the south african punting public within the 6 million tax payers.

Itally about a third are tax payers
South Africa about a tenth are tax payers

guess we will not grow.
will see if I can find the Uk stats.

2,000 jobs lost in Irish racing, says HRI


AT LEAST 2,000 jobs were lost in the Irish racing and breeding industries last year, according to Horse Racing Ireland's chairman Denis Brosnan.

Brosnan was one of a highly distinguished panel of speakers from across Europe who formed a panel for the symposium titled ‘The Future Of European Racing', part of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association Expo 2010 at Goffs.

A common theme was the problems facing the sport in Ireland, Britain and Germany. The marked reduction in funding for the industry in Ireland, which in turn has led to a sharp contraction in support for areas such as capital grants for racecourses, a fall in registered owners from 1,450 in 2007 to 890 last year, and the dramatic increase in offshore betting over the last decade were among the issues dealt with by Brosnan.

Speaking on Friday night, he also said that the drop in betting levy from five per cent to one per cent was glossed over by a booming economy that created government surpluses, some of which made its way into racing.

"Higher than 2,000 jobs in the industry were lost during 2009," he said. "We have one massive problem in common with Britain in that most betting is done through internet and offshore betting.

"In 2002 €1.2 billion was bet in Ireland and the betting levy was €60 million, and fully funded the racing industry.

"The government fund has now been cut to €23m and the betting levy reduced from five per cent to one per cent. Even with those cuts we have managed to provide €448m to prize-money, though."

To place into context Brosnan's statement that 2,000 jobs had been lost in the past 12 months, the Dukes Report, published in November, stated that there were 22,084 full-time employees in the Irish thoroughbred industry.

That report, on the economic impact of the thoroughbred industry in Ireland, had beencommissioned by the ITBA. Dukes is an economist and former government minister.


Also on the panel with Brosnan was Paul Dixon, president of the Racehorse Owners' Association, who, when quizzed about the Racing For Change project, said: "We need to get people interested in the sport and its participants - the horses and characters involved. If we can do that, betting interest will follow."

The challenging times facing racing in Germany were outlined by Gerhard Schoningh, who owns Hoppegarten racecourse.

He reported the number of meetings in Germany to have fallen by 40-50 per cent over the past decade, and that betting turnover had fallen by even more.

Tote turnover stands at around €40m, he said, while "three or four times that figure goes offshore".

Pertinent to an ongoing debate about entry prices in Ireland, Schoningh reported that Hoppegarten charges €14 for a family ticket that admits two adults and two children.