Sport wagering levy among 'ingenious' Labour sport prepares

24 July 2014

A wagering levy to help fund neighborhood centers and deal with betting dependency is among proposals by Labour in a "long-term innovative strategy for sport".

Moves to press Premier League clubs to contribute more to grassroots football are also being thought about.

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

And she said "strong federal government leadership" was required to achieve it.

Ms Harman will also consider bring back a requirement that school students do at least two hours of sport a week, which was removed by the union as part of education reforms.

Pressure on clubs

The propositions belong to Labour's More Sport for All consultation.

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

While the Premier League also presented a voluntary 5% levy on television revenues for the grassroots video game, the party believes the yohaig code manner in which sum is computed implies it is frequently less that it could be.

The assessment is taking a look at increasing transparency into how sums are calculated and checking out steps that would press the nation's richest football clubs into appropriately meeting their guarantee.

The strategies being thought about also consist of:

New targets for female involvement in sport

Increasing the number of females on the boards of sporting organisations

Ms Harman stated: "We were all happy to host the Olympics and Paralympic Games in London two years earlier, but rather of seeing increased participation things have become worse, specifically among young people, as a result of the government axing school sports collaborations."

She added: "Our consultation takes a look at a variety of ideas which aim to improve investment in community and grassroots sports by quarreling the Premier League and wagering business, reviving two hours of sport at schools a week and encouraging more individuals to participate - girls in addition to boys.

"We require strong government management to produce a long-lasting ingenious prepare for sport which is what this promotion code consultation looks for to do."

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

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