The looming prospect of a ban on gambling advertising that threatens live day-to-day TV coverage of Irish racing has led to predictions of “very substantial” job losses in the sport.
The Government’s long-awaited gambling regulation Bill, due to be debated shortly in the Dáil, perhaps early next month, proposes a ban on gambling advertising between 5.30am and 9pm.
Both the subscription channel Racing TV, which holds the home-viewing rights to Irish racing until 2029, and Sky Sports Racing have threatened to leave the Irish market if they do not get an exemption from the ban, arguing it would otherwise make their businesses in Ireland unviable.
Junior Minister James Browne, who is introducing the legislation, has said he does not accept Irish racing will lose coverage and pointed to this week’s ESRI report on rates of problem gambling in Ireland to underline the urgency of the new Bill.
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He also appeared to take a swipe at Horse Racing Ireland, the sector’s semi-State ruling body, for negotiating a new media rights deal worth €47 million a year despite the forthcoming legislation.
The increasingly rancorous atmosphere has led to widespread alarm within racing, and the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA) described the situation as “very concerning” on Friday.
“Do I have a lot of hope – there’s always hope, but it doesn’t look great at this point in time,” said the IRTA’s chief executive, Ryan McElligott. “If live pictures were to disappear I would imagine you could see a very substantial downturn in terms of the numbers of horses in training. I don’t know what percentage of owners get to go to the races and see their horse, but if you have an animal and it runs four or five times and you never even get to watch it, I dare say you’ll move on to another pursuit.
“And if I’m talking about a significant drop off in terms of ownership, and consequently horses in training, I think that in turn is going to lead to job losses of a very substantial nature, putting many already beleaguered yards under huge pressure.”
A Deloitte report for Horse Racing Ireland earlier this year said racing and breeding in this country supported directly or indirectly 30,350 jobs in 2022. It also generated €2.46 billion to the Irish economy in direct and stimulated expenditure, up 34 per cent on 2016.
It claimed that 9,400 of jobs are in the core industry, defined as “making their living as a direct or indirect result from the racing and breeding industry.” It also noted that €264 million was spent by owners in training and running their horses in 2022.
Horse Racing Ireland statistics for 2022 showed 4,757 owners in all, including individuals, clubs, and syndicates. A total of 4,993 horses was returned as the average number in training last year.
Champion National Hunt trainer Willie Mullins has been among a number of leading racing figures to warn against the potential impact of the new legislation.
Earlier this week the trainer and well-known businessman Barry Connell warned against an “Armageddon situation” if daily coverage of Irish racing was not available to view in Ireland.
Any potential impact from the standoff over gambling legislation on the sport’s wider finances is likely to be scrutinised in this Tuesday’s Government budget. Last year’s budget saw Horse Racing Ireland get $€72.8 million of State funding for 2023. That was up from €70.4 million the year before.
The budget also takes places in the context of dents to racing’s reputation this year from a number of controversies, including a three-year ban from training for leading businessman Lue Comer after 12 of his horses tested positive for anabolic steroids. Comer is appealing the penalties.
