There has got to be a happy medium, enough charge to give something to racing without a new tax imposed on the punters. Some people say bookmakers are bluffing and they will pay it in the end. There's one very interesting fact in all of this. Four years ago, BHB chairman Peter Savill's financial plan pointed out that bookmakers' profits from racing were 2.35 per cent of turnover. He is now proposing a charge of 2.5 per cent of profits to be given to the indusrty so by his own fiugures, he wants all these profirts to go directly to racing.
Some people say turnover is going to go up.
John Brown of Hills say it might be as much as 50 per cent when we will see, it may or may not. But when the government are basing their taxation of bookmakers on profits, the BHB are still insisting on turnover. And what's worse there are no negotiations planned. Now I believe if bookmakers are forced to pay this sort of figures, they will either impoose a betting tax or adjust starting prices to pay for this. Either is totally, utterly unacceptable.