Racing: Bookmakers try to put a squeeze on exchanges

After a year in which punters have been free of the yoke of betting tax and revelled in the extra edge that person-to-person betting exchanges have given them, the grasping hands of the bookmakers and the British Horseracing Board are outstretched to claw back some of the advantages that punters have enjoyed.

At today's meeting of the Levy Board that will determine the amount of levy that bookmakers and exchanges will have to pay from next April, the Bookmakers' Committee's submission requests that the exchanges pay 10 per cent of the commission the companies earn and a further 10 per cent of successful layers' profits. The current scheme, agreed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, takes only 10 per cent of the exchanges' gross commission.

At the same time, the BHB is seeking payment for two licences for pre-race data, one for the exchanges' own use and one to cover layers' activity on the exchanges' sites.

It would be a double blow to the exchanges that they would find difficult not to pass on to punters in the form of increased commission charges. If that happens then, yet again, the chances of punters turning a profit will have taken a battering.

The phenomenal growth of the exchanges in the last two years has come about because they provide a better value product for punters. The submission, from a bookmaking body on which the exchanges are not represented, is a reflection of the fear that the bookies have of the exchanges' growing popularity. The BHB, meanwhile, seemingly have as their sole goal greatly enhanced prize-money for successful owners.

Mark Davies, the head of business development at Betfair, the largest of the exchanges with almost 90 per cent of the market and a weekly turnover of £50m of matched bets, said: "It is a rare occasion when the bookmakers and the BHB have all their ducks in a line and are shooting at the same target.

"A year ago the Government abolished betting duty paid by punters and we have pointed out to the Levy Board that we will not allow our punters to be discriminated against."

Attheraces today launch an interactive betting service giving punters the chance to watch live racing on screen and bet into Tote pools using the television remote control. The innovation, crucial to the viability of Attheraces, will be available on Sky digital channel 418.

The jockey Timmy Murphy is to return to action tomorrow after being given back his riding licence by the Jockey Club yesterday. Murphy was released from prison on Tuesday after serving 84 days of a six-month sentence for indecently assaulting a flight attendant and being drunk on board an aircraft.

Godolphin's spending spree continues with the purchase of Highest from Highclere Racing. The colt was second to Bollin Eric in the St Leger on his last outing for Sir Michael Stoute and will join buys including Sulamani at the Al Quoz stables in Dubai.

Beekeeper, another Godolphin purchase from Highclere, was yesterday backed for Tuesday's Melbourne Cup. Coral took a £1,000 cash bet at 8-1 in their Newmarket branch and the firm's Simon Clare said: "He is attracting support from our shrewdest customers while his stablemate, the favourite Pugin, is friendless."