Sport wagering levy amongst 'innovative' Labour sport plans

24 July 2014

A betting levy to help fund community facilities and treat betting dependency is amongst propositions by Labour in a "long-term ingenious plan for sport".

Transfer to push Premier League clubs to contribute more to grassroots football are also being considered.

Shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman stated the Olympic "legacy" of increased participation had stopped working to materialise after London 2012.

And she said "strong government management" was needed to accomplish it.

Ms Harman will likewise consider restoring a requirement that school students do at least 2 hours of sport a week, which was eliminated by the coalition as part of education reforms.

Pressure on clubs

The proposals are part of Labour's More Sport for All assessment.

At present, wagering companies deal with a levy on horseracing revenues - which raised ₤ 82m last year - and Labour is thinking about extending the yohaig code levy to cover all sports and include bets placed online.

While the Premier League also introduced a voluntary 5% levy on tv profits for the grassroots game, the party thinks the way that sum is calculated indicates it is frequently less that it could be.

The consultation is taking a look at increasing transparency into how sums are determined and exploring measures that would push the country's richest football clubs into appropriately satisfying their pledge.

The plans being considered also consist of:

New targets for female involvement in sport

Increasing the variety of women on the boards of sporting organisations

Ms Harman said: "We were all proud to host the Olympics and Paralympic Games in London 2 years back, but instead of seeing increased participation things have worsened, especially amongst young individuals, as a result of the government axing school sports partnerships."

She added: "Our assessment looks at a variety of concepts which intend to increase investment in neighborhood and grassroots sports by getting hard with the Premier League and betting business, bringing back 2 hours of sport at schools a week and encouraging more individuals to participate - girls in addition to young boys.

"We need strong federal government management to develop a long-lasting ingenious prepare for sport which is what this promotion code consultation seeks to do."

Clive Efford, Labour's shadow sport minister, added: "If we are going to get more individuals active then we need to empower the individuals who do most of the work in our neighborhoods to have more impact over how we plan, arrange and deliver sport and athletics at regional level."

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