We explain to you why the horse racing industry is canceling all its races this Thursday and demonstrating in Paris

Nearly 5,000 people are expected in the capital to protest against a government amendment to the Social Security draft budget. He plans to increase taxation on games and betting, particularly horse racing. The sector denounces “a deadly choice”.

There will be no trotting or galloping on the racecourses of France on Thursday November 7. The horse racing industry has canceled the races planned to accompany a strike and the demonstration of racing associations and professionals, planned in Paris. PMU fans will therefore not be able to bet, although 25 races were to take place. Players in the sector want to protest against a government amendment to the draft Social Security budget, which plans to increase taxation on games and betting, particularly horse racing. Franceinfo explains to you the reasons for this revolt, which the Minister of the Budget, Laurent Saint-Martin, has tried to defuse in recent days.

A tax increase project that does not pass

The government amendment plans to increase the tax on gross gaming revenue from horse racing bets placed in the physical network (PMU, racecourses) from 6.9% to 7.5%. For online betting, it would increase from 6.9% to 15%. It also plans to increase taxation on advertisements and promotional offers from operators, that on the gross product of certain casino games, online poker and physical sports betting (from 6.6% to 7.6%) and online (from 10.6% to 15%). This could generate up to 200 million euros in additional revenue per year.

The horse racing industry denounced on October 29 “the deadly choice” of the government to increase taxation on betting. That “endangers the activity of several hundred agricultural stakeholders, breeders, and trainers”denounces the press release. If it came into force, this increase would represent a shortfall of 35 million euros per year, warned Stéphane Meunier, president of the Union of Trotting Trainers, Drivers and Jockeys (SEDJ), Thursday on franceinfo. “It would be a massive blowhe believes. Thirty-five million euros is a month’s income for professionals. This is what we inject into the sector in allocations, this is what returns directly to professionals, breeders, trainers, jockeys, drivers, to our employees.”

He is particularly concerned about small structures “who can die first” while they “are already much weakened because the racing economy has been going badly for ten years now”. Stéphane Meunier also denounces the injustice of such a measure, while, according to him, the horse racing industry “brings in an average of 2 million euros per day for the State, 951 million per year, without it costing the State a cent”.

An amendment rejected by the deputies

The amendment tabled on Monday was rejected by the National Assembly. As of Sunday, the Minister of Budget and Public Accounts, Laurent Saint-Martin, assured that he disapproved of the measure. “I hope that the owners, all those who make up the equestrian life of our country, can be protected from taxation which would prevent them from working”he declared during the show “Dimanche en politique”.

During the question session with the government, the MP for Mayenne Géraldine Bannier (Les Démocrates) expressed the sector’s concerns on Tuesday and recalled its benefits. “The current ecosystem is virtuous: 75% of the stakes are returned to the players and 16% are used to finance the sector, supporting the ecosystem of breeders, trainers, owners, jockeys…”she explained.

Laurent Saint-Martin then clarified the content of this amendment. He “allows us to harmonize taxation on gross gaming revenue”he explained, before reiterating his refusal of such a measure for the horse racing industry. “We gave a favorable opinion to the sub-amendment allowing taxation to be stabilized at 7% and not beyond for physical or online horse racing betting”he assured. Which suggests that the horse racing sector would ultimately not be affected by this tax increase.

All races canceled to be able to demonstrate

If the deputies said no, the senators could have a different opinion. This is the “fear” by Lakhdar Terbèche, owner and breeder who has become one of the faces of the mobilization. He fears “instrumentalization to demobilize the troops”In The Parisian. “We remain in a tough position, not a single euro must leave the sector”he warns. “Although the government’s amendment to increase taxation on horse racing betting has been rejected, it is essential to maintain pressure on the government”added sector organizations, including France Galop and the Société du trotteur français, in a statement sent to AFP on Wednesday.

“This topic is likely to be brought up again in the Senate or at any other time in the budget adoption process. And races should not be a variable in budget adjustment.”

Horse racing industry associations

in a statement to AFP

A demonstration therefore takes place on Thursday in Paris at the start of the afternoon, between Place Denfert-Rochereau and Place Vauban, behind the Invalides. If, for security reasons, the demonstrators will not travel on horseback, there will be a few in the procession, notably with the Italian equestrian stuntman and trainer Mario Luraschi. Nearly 5,000 people are expected. And to allow the entire sector to mobilize, the sector “was forced to make an unprecedented decision: cancel all races for the day”.

The only precedents for canceled races in France date back to the world wars and more recently to the Covid-19 period. This cancellation of the 25 planned races creates a “effort” which the sector estimates at 3 million euros. According to the figures of the French Institute of Horses and Equestrianism, the France has 226 racecourses which organize more than 18,000 races per year, representing nearly 66,000 jobs.