Coral Ends Cheltenham Sponsorship as UK Tax Hikes Rattle Horse Racing

Despite avoiding betting duty increases in the Autumn Budget 2025, the pressure has not eased on the British horse racing sector. Just this week, Coral announced that they would end their sponsorship of the Cheltenham Festival, ending a 52 year collaboration between the two. Entain Group, the UK-based company that acquired Ladbrokes Coral Group in 2018, stated that the main reason for the withdrawal was due to the tax hikes in the UK on gambling, and that while the festival and horse racing in general are highly important to Entain, they cannot continue sponsoring the famed UK horse meeting.

There was no indication about what will happen with Ladbrokes, also owned by Entain, and another sponsor of the Cheltenham Festival. While a sad end to a prestigious collaboration, this may not be an isolated event. The horse racing industry in the UK is worried that it may spark an exodus of betting partners and official bookie sponsorship of horse racing events across the country. The levies on casino gaming will go up from April of this year, and while sports betting duties will only increase from the following April, top bookies in the UK are already looking at cutting their costs and rethinking their financial frameworks.

Coral Sponsorship of Cheltenham Festival Ends

The longstanding relationship between Coral and Cheltenham Festival began in 1974, and it was one of the most iconic commercial partnerships in British racing. Coral, a sports betting and horse racing bookie,  sponsored the Coral Cup, a National Hunt hurdle race, run on the Old Course at Cheltenham. Cheltenham heavily sponsored Coral, one of the official betting partners alongside the likes of BetMGM, Paddy Power, Sky Bet, Unibet and William Hill. Coral is actually one of the partners of the Jockey Club in the UK, and besides Cheltenham, it also sponsors the Ladbrokes King George IV Chase at Kempton Park and the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park.

Coral is one of the oldest bookies in the UK, it was founded in 1926. In 2016, the company merged with Ladbrokes (founded 1886) to become the Ladbrokes Coral Group. Yet the two bookmakers still kept their operations separate and continued to run their distinctive brands. In 2018, Ladbrokes Coral Group was acquired by Entain Group, in a deal estimated at £4 billion. The parent company of Coral, Entain Group made the decision to cut ties with Cheltenham Festival and end the Cheltenham Cup race sponsorship. The PR Director, Simon Clare, directly attributed the end of the collab to the changes in the taxation landscape in the UK, and that Entain has to make many difficult decisions about its marketing budget now.

Importance of Betting Partners for Horse Racing

Historically, horse racing has attracted people from all walks of life. You had tracks packed with busy race schedules, attended by the working class, and gambling was an integral and social part of the events. On the complete other end of the spectrum, it was also the reserve of the UK’s wealthy and aristocratic families, right up to the very top. The Royal Family’s affinity with horse racing started in the 17th century, with James I, but it was fortified and expanded by Queen Anne (founder of Ascot Racecourse), and later George IV and Queen Elizabeth II.

But as horse racing became more prominent, more tracks were built, and fixed schedule events started cropping up, so too did the need to finance these events. In 1957, the Whitbread Gold Cup at Sandown Park became the first race to be sponsored by an external partner. It was sponsored by a brewery. Other beverage providers followed suit, with Hennessy and Schweppes sponsoring races in the 1960s, and in the 1970s, the sponsorships extended to official horse race betting partners.

Nowadays, the sponsors of horse races, festivals, and major meetings range substantially. You have the betting partners, financial corporations, and even luxury brands or lifestyle brands that use horse races as a platform to show their prestige. Some of the most well known sponsors of horse races in the UK include:

• Debenhams
• Guinness
• Boodles
• Randox
• Close Brothers

And the events themselves have dress codes, VIP experiences, and attract wealthy business people and well known celebrities. Plus, horse races have no shortage of betting partners, including well known brands such as:

• BetFred
• bet365
• Coral
• Paddy Power
• William Hill

Tax Changes From the Autumn Budget

Entain Group is not the only company that faces serious cutbacks and is rethinking its financial projections beyond 2027. Gambling operators running online casinos and/or bookmakers will have to reassess their business plans as the UK Autumn Budget gambling levies increase. UK’s Chanceller of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, created the new budget that impacted practically all sectors of UK tax. Beyond the 2% increase in dividend or savings tax, reduced EOT tax relief and frozen income tax and NI thresholds, the gambling industry took a pretty deep hit.

Remote Gaming Duty, applying to all landbased UK casinos and online platforms, will increase from 21% to 40% from April 1 of this year. Betting duties were divided into two new categories: General Betting Duty, which stays at 15% (this includes horse racing bets). And the Remote Betting Duty, which will rise from 15% up to 25%, to go into effect from April 1, 2027.

That is not all, as the UKGC regulatory framework could still be tightened. Just this week, there were reports that the UKGC may look at increasing its operator licence fees. Plus, the UK’s Gambling Watchdog is constantly rolling out legislation to protect the betting public, putting more pressure on marketing, sponsorships, and promotional offers. These all impact the operational costs, and in a way that can even rattle the likes of Entain Group (Coral, Ladbrokes, BetMGM UK), Evoke (William Hill, Mr Green, 888), and Flutter (Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Bet).

Autumn Budget Impacts on UK Gambling Sector

Just taking that trio, who represent some of the biggest brands operating in the UK today, all have been forced to take pretty drastic measures in the aftermath of Rachel Reeves’ new gambling taxation plan. Flutter announced it would move Sky Bet to Malta, relocating the brand to save on operational costs, but without exiting the UK betting sector. Both Flutter Entertainment and Evoke had to close high street retailers across the UK, shutting down Paddy Power and William Hill betting shops up and down the country.

Evoke also then announced that it will consider offers to sell off William Hill. This was perhaps the most drastic of all moves, as Evoke just bought William Hill from Caesars Entertainment back in 2022. But with remote gaming duty on the rise, and mounting pressure on operators, drastic times call for drastic measures.

High street betting shop closures, relocations, cutbacks and sales of major brands are all direct consequences of the impending tax hikes. The goal from the lawmakers’ side, to clean up the UK’s act and open more revenue streams for the government, comes at the expense of a more challenging gambling sector for operators. The chances of us losing these famous and reputable brands are negligible. William Hill, Coral, and Ladbrokes are just too well established to just up and disappear. But we will most likely see operators cutting corners and reshaping their frameworks, and hopefully it won’t affect the quality of the products they offer.

Dangers for the Horse Racing Sector

As an operator with a well established brand, it makes more sense to cut off a sponsorship for horse racing – a sport that is gradually declining – than to cut back on football club gambling sponsorships or, God forbid, diminish their betting lines and odds quality. Unfortunately, horse racing is a struggling industry, and that is not just in the UK. All around the world, local horse racetracks and jockey clubs are fighting to hold on, they have precious revenue streams and these must be kept open for the horse races to continue.

That is why the British Horseracing Authority lobbied so hard prior to the Autumn Budget. They even held a 1-day protest against the Budget back in September. At the time, it looked like horse race betting duties would be increased, but finally the UK Treasury backed off and allowed them to continue with the 15% rate. But still, the impacts on general betting and remote betting duty (not relating to horse racing), was enough to indirectly impact horse racing. To the point that Coral has now withdrawn from a 52-year collaboration.

There are tough decisions to be made across many of the top UK operator companies. If others were to follow in Coral’s footsteps and cut back on their sponsorships of horse racing events, the industry would lose an important chunk of their revenue, and it could send the industry into further decline. While another betting partner, or a company not related to betting, may step in and fill the void left by Coral, the industry will make it a top priority to hold onto their existing sponsors and mitigate the damage done by Coral’s exit.