The State has paid out over €1.6bn to horse and greyhound racing since 2001.
This is made up of funds generated from general taxation and betting tax income.
A report commissioned by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), which was carried out by economic consultants KSHK, has queried the use of public funds in the horse and greyhound racing sector and questioned whether a portion of betting tax income could be redirected to soccer and other sports.
The report was also critical of the annual horse and greyhound racing fund, saying it's being financed with betting tax income despite only 55% of bets in Ireland being placed on racing.
Last week Taoiseach Leo Varadkar rejected calls for a review of the fund saying, "I wouldn’t pit sport against the equestrian industry in Ireland. The equestrian industry is worth around a billion euros per year."
As part of The Conversation from RTÉ's Upfront with Katie Hannon, we asked two people to join our WhatsApp group to discuss whether this was a fair distribution of betting tax.
Kevin Blake is a TV Racing pundit, a Betfair ambassador and the race planner for trainer Joseph O’Brien.
Daniel Lambert is the Chief Operations Officer with Bohemian Football Club.
Kevin Blake: Hi Daniel. I hope you're well. The last week or so has seen a conversation develop around the publication of some details of a report commissioned by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) entitled Analysis of the Horse & Greyhound Racing Fund in the context of sports funding in Ireland.
Unfortunately, rather than resulting in a focus on the FAI and their case for more funding from the government, it seems to have resulted in finger pointing at the horse and greyhound racing fund.
How have you interpreted what we have seen of the report? Do you find it frustrating that the report commissioned by the FAI puts more focus on the fund than on the case for better funding for the FAI?
Daniel Lambert: Hi Kevin. I’m very well thanks and hope you are too. I think the conversation about a substantial amount of funding going to one area of sport is welcome and positive and I don’t see it as finger pointing.
With limited exchequer funds available it’s important to understand the landscape that exists before setting out to modify it.
I’ve interpreted the (KSHK) report as demonstrating a clear and continuous major funding mechanism to horse and greyhound racing that is ring-fenced for two sports with significantly declining attendances, over 30% in eight years.
Meanwhile Irish football is on the opposite trajectory with crowds up over 100% in eight years yet in dire need of facility upgrades.
This report for me is timely and shines a light on a major grey area of funding in sports.
Kevin Blake: Dan, one of the main contentions stemming from the report is that the betting tax yield isn't actually ring-fenced for the fund as stated in the report.
Some commentators have continued to question this, but the figures from 2019 clearly demonstrate there is no ring-fencing as the doubling of the betting tax rate to 2% resulted in the betting tax yield increasing from €52.3m in 2018 to €95m in 2019*, yet the fund was only raised by just 5% in the same year.
[*Editor’s note: Figures from Revenue.ie].
Regarding those attendance figures you've produced; they don't add up to me.
Bearing in mind that racing was run behind closed doors and then with strictly capped attendances during Covid-19, using numbers from 2020/2021 that period wouldn't be reflective.
To use the eight-year period you have chosen, total attendance at Irish racing in 2014 was 1,285,353 and in 2022 as we emerged from Covid-19 it was 1,247,872.
Horse racing is second only to the GAA as the best attended sport in Ireland and has been for decades, so I don't think that is a good means to throw stones at them.
All that data is available in the Horse Racing Ireland Fact Books which can be readily found via any search engine.
Daniel Lambert: Kevin I think to say that betting tax revenues aren’t ring-fenced is semantics and word play as opposed to the reality.
There is a strong correlation between the two and various TDs and ministers are on the public record linking the two. In fact, a HRI [Horse Racing Ireland] report in 2017 states, "A 1% betting tax on all bets placed feeds into the horse and greyhound fund."
The HRI lobbied for an increase in betting tax because of the help it could offer with funding.
It's not credible to say there is no relationship between the two.
I take it as a given that they are linked, and would then question why?
We know that 20/30% of bets placed are now placed on football, yet a system remains where two sports receive a predetermined 80/20 split.
Regarding attendances, that’s from a recent article* which dismissed the pre and post Covid figures as distraction and states that, "Average attendance at race meetings in Ireland was 3,704 in 2014 but now stands at just 2,841, a 30% decrease in 8 years."
[*Editor’s note: This statistic is from an irishracing.com article].
I would also query how many are paying attendees.
Do you think it’s right that one sport has a massive pot of funding and is in essence propping it up?
And that these sports have much social harm attached to them as opposed to the enormous exchequer saving provided by participation sports?
Kevin Blake: I disagree, Dan. It either is or it isn't ring-fenced and the figures demonstrate they are not linked.
HRI lobbied for an increase in tax as I strongly suspect it would very much suit them to return to a ring-fenced model as it would give them more certainty in funding rather than being at the whims of the Government of the day.
As it is, the betting tax yield isn't ring-fenced, so they have to make their own business case for government investment which is subject to a parliamentary vote every year.
I'm afraid that the average crowd figure for 2022 is incorrect. The correct figure is 3,216 - see page eight here.
In answer to your final question, horse racing is not a sport, it is an industry.
It is hugely successful international industry that has demonstrated relentless long-term growth and is an Irish success story.
The investment that the Irish government makes into the horse racing industry is returned to them by a multiple of over 30 in the form of over €2 billion* in economic activity.
[*Editor’s note: This figure is referencing a 2017 Deloitte report on the value of racing to the Irish economy].
That is actual money, not exchequer saving as the FAI focuses on when advertising their impact on the Irish economy.
There was a very telling stat in the Farmer's Journal on Thursday.
It stated that full-time hands-on employees in the horse racing and breeding sectors account for approximately 10,000 of the 90,000 total agricultural workers in Ireland, approximately 11%.
Yet, the horse racing industry only receives approximately 3.4% of the €2.13 billion that the Department of Agriculture will give in agriculture sector support in 2023.
Far from questioning whether horse racing gets too much funding, I'd be very much suggesting that it doesn't get enough given just how lucrative an investment it is for the Irish government.
I wish the FAI well in their pursuit of increased funding, but I can't help but feel that they have wasted valuable time and money firing shots via this report at the horse and greyhound racing fund when they really should have been focusing on making their own business case.
Daniel Lambert: I think you’re being disingenuous in the extreme to try and say the betting levy and the horse and greyhound racing fund aren’t linked - it has been alluded to multiple times in the Dáil including by the Minister for Agriculture himself in 2013.
[Editor’s note: Then Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said in the Dáil in 2013 that, "The increased revenues from receipts in excise duty on betting will create the potential 'to significantly reduce general exchequer expenditure other than funds raised from betting taxation."
The HRI states that the levy "feeds into the fund." That’s explicit.
As we are texting just now a civil servant in the Department of Agriculture has admitted in an Oireachtas committee meeting, "That the income from betting tax is part of the policy picture that supports the investment in the (horse and greyhound racing) sectors."
What is your reply, are they lying?
Re attendances, it’s not something to get bogged down in but the truth is racing crowds are falling and football is rising dramatically. That’s surely accepted? One has over capacity and one huge under capacity. Football (League of Ireland (LOI) only) will have well over 1,000,000 attendees this year (all paying) and it would surpass racing if facilities allowed.
So, if racing isn’t a sport and it’s "an industry" do you accept that it is an industry that causes huge societal harm?
I’m aware you’re perhaps paid by some of the world’s largest betting companies so perhaps difficult to acknowledge but is it true?
Do you think greyhound racing is viable and worthy of large state support given very legitimate questions about its future?
Should football not warrant large annual investment into facilities as the largest participation sport on the island and one that saves the exchequer billions on health costs?
If so pointing out and questioning a long-standing mechanism that has done this for another sport/industry is right and proper.
Kevin Blake: I'd put far more value on responses given by both the Minister for Agriculture and the Department of Sport in response to direct requests for statements on this precise question last week rather than historical exchanges in the Dáil.
Horse racing has been the second-highest attended sport in Ireland for decades and has maintained those attendance levels. It is great the LOI attendances have improved so much from what was a low base and I hope that continues to go the right way for them.
What societal harm does the horse racing industry cause? I assume you mean the betting industry? Given that the KHSK report made the point that horse racing only represents 50% or so of betting turnover in Ireland, I wonder will the FAI be as keen to take their "fair share" of responsibility for the gambling-related harm that emanates from betting on soccer?
As mentioned before, I would wish the very best of luck to the FAI in their pursuit of additional funding. If they have a business case that stands up on its own merits, then I personally don't see the need or benefit of poking at other industries or sports. That isn't a tactic I can ever recall any other sport using and that is why it has hit the nerve that it has.
It will be interesting to know what if any impact the report has.
The updated Deloitte report relating to the impact of the Irish horse racing industry on the economy is due to be published in the next couple of weeks, so I would be happy to come on again to discuss that when it is published.
[Editor’s note: The 2017 Deloitte report on the value of racing to the Irish economy is due to be updated later this year].
It was a pleasure to debate the subject with you and the very best of luck to you with Bohs.
Daniel Lambert: Football’s attendances sadly can’t go higher as most stadiums are sold out. These are all to paying customers too whilst I believe racetracks count everyone irrespective of paying or not.
As well as the huge economic benefit of that, clubs could continue to invest in youth structures that benefit so many through participation.
At the heart of all funding is competition for scarce resources. Sports capital being a prime example. Racing should not be above analysis or question, but it appears to want to be.
I really look forward to the new Deloitte report too, it’s widely accepted that those figures are very much weighted one way.
Thanks for the good wishes and you’re more than welcome to Dalymount to enjoy it firsthand.
Kevin Blake: I wouldn't be in a position to doubt you on the growth potential of the LOI and it would be great for Irish sport to see it.
My point is that it doesn't have to be a one or the other approach. Horse racing and League of Ireland can both make strong business cases to the government for funding and hope to get it.
The approach doesn't have to be divisive.
We had better call it day as we have already run 80 minutes over!
Thanks again and the very best of luck. I'll give you a buzz if I get out in the Dalymount direction!
Daniel Lambert: Look forward to a pint and chat again in the bars In Dalyer!
Read last week's edition of The Conversation, where we asked if we need to reduce the size of the national herd, here.
