These are crucial days for what will be the future of horse racing, days in which the threads are being drawn, in the form of documents and official measures, of all the work that has been done to date. A work carried out on two tracks: that of the measures that can be taken autonomously with ministerial decrees and those that instead require a parliamentary passage. Two tracks, however, destined to arrive at a single station, a single terminus: that of a comprehensive and structural reform of the sector.
Satisfied Senator Patrizio Giacomo La Pietra on the aftermath of the approval in the Budget Committee of the amendments concerning horse racing to be included in the maxi amendment to the Budget Law that will be approved by Parliament in the coming days.
‘Yes, we have worked hard and I feel I can say that we have brought home some excellent results, above all by respecting the timetable that we had given ourselves with Minister Francesco Lollobrigida and Director General Chiodi and that we had already announced in Verona. You have already seen two important steps: the appointment of the new members of the Sports Justice Commissions and above all the Classification of Racecourses.’
Regarding the latter obviously opinions are divided….
‘It was obvious that there would be happy and unhappy, but it was essential to set a starting point. We have said several times that this is a ‘dynamic’ classification that will take into account the quality parameter from next year and that above all is intended to be ‘rewarding’ in the sense that those who work well, those who contribute to making the racecourses more welcoming and functional for their respective ‘missions’ will certainly see their position improve over time…
In recent days there has been much talk of cuts: to prize money, to racecourses. You have always been cautious in that sense, under the motto: ‘Financial laws should be seen at the beginning and judged at the end’…
‘That’s true, and this time too it seems to me that the reality of the facts is corroborating this assumption. With the measures that have been included in the maxi amendment all those ‘cuts’ that had been predicted are being recovered, so the resources available to the sector will be substantially unchanged compared to last year, but that’s not all: I can say that there will also be extra resources. We have opened up an important road that we need to define more clearly and that we will have to complete with the ‘attached’ to the Financial Law, which will be presented in the first months of 2025 so that it can be approved by the end of the year. In the meantime, however, we have started with important measures.’
Shall we try to summarise?
First of all, with an amendment we recovered the one million cut to the prize money that had appeared in the first draft of the budget and that had worried the operators not a little. Then with another the 7 million euro in subsidies for racecourses. This is money that, on the one hand, cancels the cut announced a few weeks ago and, on the other hand, will be dedicated to the investment chapter and is partly linked to the issue of classification and its dynamism. With these funds, in fact, we want to push the companies that manage racecourses to make more investments to improve their facilities. In addition, we have approved an amendment that paves the way for a more organic betting reform through a 2 per cent tax on virtual betting, the revenue from which will go to horse racing with a twofold purpose. On the one hand to guarantee more overall resources for the sector, and on the other hand to have the necessary funds to digest the start-up of the lowering of the levy on horse-racing fixed odds betting with the latter being put on an equal footing with sports betting and this, let me tell you, seems to me an important achievement. The alignment of all bets will in fact ensure greater competitiveness of the horse racing product and will certainly produce more interest and consequently more revenue over time….
Of course, this is not the end of the story…
Well, in all this it must be said that we have certainly not lost sight of the problem of prize money payments. On the contrary, compared to last year, when we closed by paying part of July’s prizes and still falling behind with invoiced prizes, we have gained about a month since we have now paid at least 75% of August’s prizes and have aligned our invoices. This was also made possible by the recovery of about one third of the EUR 44 million shortfall that had accumulated in previous years.
Of course, as I said before, this topic too will be part of the a Law project connected to the Finanacial Law, where we will start an even more structural reform with the project to set up a specific agency for horse racing outside the Ministry and an overall reform of the betting system on horse racing.
In short, a Christmas with a little more light at the end of the tunnel….
‘What I would like to reiterate is that we have been talking about these reforms for a long time and I believe that once we have secured the budget and avoided the feared cuts, we can look to tomorrow with renewed commitment and confidence. There is still a long way to go, but the path has been taken.’
