Hasse Lord Skarplöth, chief executive of Swedish horse racing monopoly AB Trav och Galopp (ATG), has urged the Sweden government to follow the UK’s “courageous” gambling tax reforms.
In last week’s autumn budget, the UK government exempted horse racing – as well as self-service betting terminals, spread betting and pool bets – from an increase in remote general betting duty from 15% to 25% in April 2027. Remote gaming duty will also rise from 21% to 40% in April 2026.
The measures have been widely criticised by UK gambling industry stakeholders.
However, Skarplöth, who has been an outspoken critic of Sweden’s increase in gross gaming revenue (GGR) tax from 18% to 22% in July last year, said that the UK’s new tax policy is “built on risk assessment and social benefit”.
A ‘politically courageous’ move
He reiterated calls for tax on horse racing betting to be cut to 18% and said tax on online casinos could be raised to 26% as “financial compensation”.
“The UK has understood that gambling policy cannot be handled with a sledgehammer. It requires precision,” Skarplöth said. “The motive was as clear as it was politically courageous: horse racing not only finances gambling, but an entire industry. Online casinos do not.
“In the UK, the tax burden is directed where the problems are greatest – to fast-moving online games with a high risk of gambling problems and low, if not non-existent, contribution to society.
“Horse gambling, on the other hand, is seen as part of a wider ecosystem: breeders, trainers, tracks, jobs, events and a living cultural heritage. The UK government has concluded that if you tax the horse industry to pieces, you are biting your own tail.”
A ‘horse tax’ costing SEK200m per year in Sweden
The Swedish horse industry comprises around 350,000 horses and supports almost 40,000 jobs.
Skarplöth was one of the most prominent voices opposing the increase in Swedish GGR tax last year. Describing it as a “horse tax”, he has repeatedly warned of the impact of the tax rise on the sustainability of the horse racing industry.
In his latest blog, he warned that the tax increase has cut the monopoly’s contribution to the horse racing industry by SEK200 million ($21.3 million) per year.
“The Swedish government is faced with the same choice as the British one,” he warned. “Either we continue to pretend that all forms of gambling are equivalent – or we tax according to actual risk and benefit.
“A return to a tax on horse betting of 18% would strengthen consumer protection and make an entire industry dare to believe in the future again. Raising the tax rate on online casinos to 26% as financial compensation feels both reasonable and responsible.”
‘Hope’ for future changes
One of Skarplöth’s key arguments is that “online casinos are statistically associated with greater harm” than betting on horse racing.
While acknowledging that Sweden’s government has been reluctant to apply different tax rates previously, he said he has “hope” for the future due to changes in other sectors.
Specifically, he pointed out that Sweden already imposes different tax rates on alcohol, depending on strength and product type. Similar changes are set to be introduced for tobacco and nicotine.
“If the state itself states that different products … pose different risks and should therefore be taxed differently, it is difficult to defend that gambling is still treated as an exception with a uniform tax,” he said.
“At the same time, we see that the work against the unlicensed gambling market is yielding results – which is also confirmed in ATG’s channelling reports – and new proposals for measures are ready for decision. With more gambling companies in the fold, the timing and the logic for a differentiated tax rate could not be better than now.”
After the UK hiked gambling taxation, ATG’s CEO is urging Sweden to follow suit.