Horse racing to go on strike in protest against government’s planned betting tax rise

• All scheduled racing on 10 September to be cancelled

• Treasury proposes to align duty rate for betting and gaming

All scheduled racing in Britain on 10 September will be cancelled and the sport will, in effect, go on strike, as racing escalates its protests against a Treasury proposal to align the rate of duty charged on sports betting with the rate for much more addictive games of pure chance such as roulette and online slot machines.

The move to abandon meetings at Uttoxeter, Lingfield, Kempton and Carlisle is expected to result in the loss of about 700,000 to the industry.