The Treasury has declined to give a separate estimate of how the new 25% remote rate of General Betting Duty will affect greyhound racing. In written answers on 14 October 2026, James Murray, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General, told Andrew Rosindell, Reform UK MP for Romford, that the rate is part of a package of gambling duty changes announced at Budget 2025 that will raise over £1 billion a year, and referred him to the published impact assessment.

Mr Rosindell had asked, in questions tabled on 14 September, whether the Treasury had estimated the net effect on Exchequer receipts of applying the remote rate to greyhound racing, including on betting turnover, employment and tax receipts, and what assessment it had made of the effect on Romford Greyhound Stadium. The answer to the first question added that in-person betting will remain taxed at 15% for all sports and that only remote betting, excluding remote bets on UK horseracing, will be taxed at 25%. Neither answer gave a figure for greyhound racing or for Romford.

What the impact note says

The Tax Information and Impact Note, published by HMRC on 26 November 2025, says the 25% rate will be charged on profits from remote betting from 1 April 2027. Remote bets on UK horseracing are excluded because operators already contribute 10% towards the statutory Horserace Betting Levy, which the note describes as an existing de facto 25% rate. Bets placed on self-service betting terminals in licensed premises stay at 15%, and the rates for horse and dog pool bets are unchanged.

The note does not break down the effect by sport. It puts the Exchequer gain from the wider package, which also raised Remote Gaming Duty from 21% to 40% from 1 April 2026, at £810 million in 2026/27, rising to £1,155 million in 2030/31.

Welfare and track closures

In a separate answer on 12 October, Stephen Morgan, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, told Mr Rosindell that the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) is responsible for the welfare of greyhounds on its licensed tracks, including dogs that have left tracks that have closed, and that Defra continues to monitor GBGB’s work on welfare and homing. Mr Rosindell had asked what assessment had been made of the effect of fewer licensed stadiums in England on the welfare and rehoming of retired greyhounds. The answer did not include one.

The answers come as the sport’s governing body plans further ahead. On 5 October, GBGB said it had awarded the English Greyhound Derby to Betway Towcester Racecourse for five years, covering the 2027 to 2031 competitions, with the 2027 running marking the centenary of the race. The date of the 2027 Derby has not been published.

We would like to thank Betway Towcester Racecourse for their commitment to the sport in submitting their bid to host the Derby for the next five years.

Mark Moisley, Commercial Director, Greyhound Board of Great Britain, 5 October 2026

Equanine’s reading

  • From April 2027, remote betting profits on greyhound racing will carry 25% duty. Horseracing was excluded because the Treasury counted operators’ 10% levy payments, and the note makes no equivalent provision for greyhound racing. Track promoters should expect bookmakers to raise the higher rate in media rights and sponsorship talks.
  • The Treasury has not modelled greyhound racing separately, so any case for different treatment will rest on evidence the sport assembles itself.
  • Defra’s answer places responsibility for the welfare of greyhounds from closed tracks with GBGB, a responsibility the regulator would carry into any further closures alongside the five-year Derby agreement with Towcester.