Unprecedented strike shows racing unified to send pre-budget message to Labour over betting duty crisis
There was just a single day of racing in Britain between 22 December and 9 March during the famously bitter winter in 1962-63 and dozens of blank days during the foot-and-mouth outbreaks in 1967 and 2001.Even in the era of racing on Polytrack and Tapeta, which dates back almost 40 years, there are occasional days when, to the delight of headline-writers, the so-called “all-weather” surfaces cannot cope.But there has never been a day throughout those decades when a scheduled programme of racing has been called off voluntarily, so the decision to “strike” on Wednesday, when meetings were due to be staged at Lingfield, Carlisle, Uttoxeter and Kempton, is a sign of how seriously racing’s administrators and stakeholders view the threat to the sport’s finances from a government proposal to “harmonise” the rate of duty charged on profits from betting on sport and other uncertain events, and fixed-margin casino products such as online slots where the operator takes a guaranteed percentage of turnover.Martin Cruddace, the chief executive of Arena Racing Company, one of Britain’s two major racecourse operators alongside Jockey Club Racecourses, has described the proposal as representing an “existential threat” to Britain’s second-biggest spectator sport.That might seem a little overwrought given that the current rate of betting duty is 15% of an operator’s gross profits, while the rate for gaming products is 21%.
Could an extra 6%, or even 10% alongside a 4% rise in gaming duty to “harmonise” at 25%, really make that much difference to an industry that generates billions of pounds in online turnover annually?The answer is yes, it could, and Wednesday’s strike, as well as an event at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, not far from the Houses of Parliament, is the sport’s chance to get its message across before Rachel Reeves delivers her budget on 26 November.The fundamental problem with the harmonisation idea from racing’s point of view is that it would end the distinction between games of skill and games of pure chance in the legal and regulatory frameworks around gambling.It is a distinction that dates back to the late 1700s, which saw the emergence of both over-round bookmaking – which allows a bookie to offer odds on all the runners in a race – and the roulette wheel.Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, betting involved bookmakers and gaming was restricted to casinos, a separation that remained after off-course betting in high-street shops was legalised in the early 1960s.Two significant developments started to break down the barriers in the early years of the 21st century.
The internet brought casino gaming to every computer desktop and mobile phone, giving online operators the ability to cross-promote gaming to betting customers, while the 2005 Gambling Act legitimised high-stakes casino-gaming in every high-street shop in the country on so-called fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT).But the distinction has – so far – endured in gambling’s taxation regime, and not simply because casino gaming and slots have a much higher correlation with problem gambling and addiction (although that link has been shown beyond any meaningful doubt).Newton Abbot 1.58 Lord 2.28 Jack Hyde 2.
58 La Quarite 3.28 Puddlesinthepark 3.58 Hope Rising 4.30 Juggernaut 5.00 Axel BleueCatterick Bridge 2.
10 Stellarmasterpiece 2.40 Albegone 3.10 Maasai Mata 3.40 U Sure Do 4.10 Crocodile Power 4.
40 Latona 5,10 Emerald ArmyLeicester 2,20 Unplugged 2,50 Zanthos 3,20 Kalokalo 3.
50 Monoceros 4.25 Harb 4.55 Brielle 5.25 LequintoCarlisle 4.14 Isle Of Fernandez 4.
45 Rum Therapy 5.15 Bella Love 5.45 Maris Angel (nap) 6.15 Sound Janet 6.45 Lunanova 7.
15 One Night ThunderFfos Las 4.20 She’s Crafty 4.50 Diamondsinthesand 5.20 Spanish Waltz 5.55 Tokyo Joe 6.
25 Wyld Bill 6.55 Maxident (nb) 7.25 Golden PharaohIt is also because gaming generates guaranteed profits, as a simple function of turnover.The profits from betting are far less certain, and demand much more effort and investment from the operators.The lower rate of duty on betting is an incentive to make that effort.
Without it, there is no incentive to even maintain the betting side of an operator’s business, never mind grow it over time,Racing, the only major sport that derives an essential part of its income from a share of betting revenue, would be trapped in a slow, and inevitable, spiral of decline,There is still a debate to be had over whether racing’s “one voice” calling for the government to “axe the racing tax” should be more stridently anti-harmonisation, and less focused on opposing any rise in betting duty,My view would be that a small rise is inevitable in the current climate, but also that it could be a positive for racing if it comes alongside a much bigger hike in gaming duty,The National Trainers’ Federation is still the only industry body to have offered public support for a resolution along those lines.
The strike on Wednesday is still an impressive show of unity in an entertainment industry that so often fractures into its constituent parts when times are hard, pitting the racecourses against the 10s of thousands of people who ensure that the show always goes on, on all but two or three days each year.Racing directly or indirectly supports 85,000 jobs around the country, while about 50 Labour MPs are sitting uneasily on a majority of 2,000 or below.If this week’s strike can introduce at least a few of the latter group to the urgent concerns of the former, it will be worth every penny of the £200k it is expected to cost the sport.
Amazon fires 150 unionized third-party drivers, Teamsters says
Amazon has fired more than 150 unionized drivers working for a third-party contractor in Queens, New York, according to the Teamsters union.Workers rallied at the company’s DBK4 facility in Queens on Monday after the company fired the drivers, who worked for Cornucopia, a delivery service provider (DSP) that Amazon contracted with to make deliveries. Amazon works with more than 3,000 DSPs around the world who deliver the company’s packages.The Teamsters said the firings were in retaliation for unionizing.“Amazon is breaking the law and we let the public know it,” said Antonio Rosario, a member of local 804 and a Teamster organizer, in a statement
Ex-WhatsApp cybersecurity executive says Meta endangered billions of users in new suit
A former top cybersecurity executive at WhatsApp filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging that parent company Meta disregarded internal flaws in the app’s digital defenses and exposed billions of its users. He says the company systematically violated cybersecurity regulations and retaliated against him for reporting the failures.Attaullah Baig, who served as the head of security for WhatsApp from 2021 to 2025, claims that approximately 1,500 engineers had unrestricted access to user data without proper oversight, potentially violating a US government order that imposed a $5bn penalty on the company in 2020.He also claimed the company failed to remedy the hacking and takeover of more than 100,000 accounts each day, ignoring his pleas and proposed fixes and choosing instead to prioritize user growth. The lawsuit, filed in US federal court in San Francisco, alleges Facebook owner Meta failed to implement basic cybersecurity measures, including adequate data handling and breach detection capabilities
Impact of chatbots on mental health is warning over future of AI, expert says
The unforeseen impact of chatbots on mental health should be viewed as a warning over the existential threat posed by super-intelligent artificial intelligence systems, according to a prominent voice in AI safety.Nate Soares, a co-author of a new book on highly advanced AI titled If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, said the example of Adam Raine, a US teenager who killed himself after months of conversations with the ChatGPT chatbot, underlined fundamental problems with controlling the technology.“These AIs, when they’re engaging with teenagers in this way that drives them to suicide – that is not a behaviour the creators wanted. That is not a behaviour the creators intended,” he said.He added: “Adam Raine’s case illustrates the seed of a problem that would grow catastrophic if these AIs grow smarter
Tesla offers Elon Musk a trillion-dollar pay package
Elon Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire if he hits targets set by Tesla, under a scheme disclosed by the electric car company he runs and in which he is the largest shareholder.Tesla outlined the terms of the incentive package, unprecedented in corporate history, in a section of its latest stock market update that began: “Yes, you read that correctly.”Musk, the company said, will have to increase the value of Tesla from just over $1tn now to $8.5tn over 10 years.If he presides over growth on that scale, the 54-year-old will receive new shares that would push his stake in the company from nearly 16% to well beyond 25%, increasing the fortunes of the world’s richest man to more than $2tn
Trump hosts US tech leaders at White House dinner – minus Elon Musk
As Donald Trump hosted leaders from the biggest US tech companies at a lavish White House state dining room dinner on Thursday night, there was one notable absence. Elon Musk, once inseparable from Trump and a constant, contentious presence in the White House, was not in attendance.The dinner, which included Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Apple’s Tim Cook and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, was exactly the type of event where Musk would have sat at Trump’s right hand only a few months ago. Instead, the Tesla CEO stated on his social media platform X that he had been invited but could not make it. He said he planned to send a representative and spent the day on X posting a familiar stream of attacks on immigration and trans people
Head of UK’s beleaguered Alan Turing Institute resigns
The chief executive of the UK’s leading artificial intelligence institute is stepping down after a staff revolt and government calls for a strategic overhaul.Jean Innes has led the Alan Turing Institute since 2023, but her position has come under pressure amid widespread discontent within the organisation and a demand from its biggest funder, the UK government, for a change in direction.ATI said the search was already under way for a replacement for Innes, who held senior roles in the civil service and technology industry before her appointment.Government sources pointed to a letter sent by the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to ATI’s chair in July that demanded strategic change and indicated a need for new leadership.In the letter, Kyle said the institute should switch its focus to defence and national security and urged “careful consideration” on having an appropriate executive team in place for such a move
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