BEN’S BLOG: ‘Alan Delmonte – Running the Levy and giving Independent-Bookmakers a genuine chance’

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t was a pleasure to have coffee with Alan Delmonte this week, Blog. Alan runs The Levy, who collect a tax from all bookmakers, on their horse-racing profits, that is then distributed throughout the game.

However, a major change this year, has been that offshore-bookmakers must now pay too, and that independent-bookies have to part with nothing on their first £500k of profits. This works out as a saving of over £50k and is a huge headstart for anyone looking to start out in bookmaking.

On-Course Layers have also been completely excluded from ANY payment until they make £500k of profits (Dream On!!).

Not much has been said about it. And I don’t know why! The Government have given us a real kick of the ball here, and we are VERY GRATEFUL.

In other news:

Masters Superfish, 191 Waterloo Rd, SE1 8UX WEB SITE. When I jump in the back of a cab, I always like to find out from the driver, where he goes to eat, when he knocks off. A name that has been whispered in my ear, again and again, is Masters Superfish, near the Old Vic Theatre, in Waterloo. Old school. Nothing flash here. Proper chips, sides and crunchy batter. VERY good value. The waiter could do with smiling once in a while though. And they need to up their dessert game. 7.5

Over and out, B x