The Pay Up Campaign is independently run and is a group of greyhound owners breeders and trainers who fear for the future of greyhound racing because of lack of funding by major bookmakers, namely Sky Bet and Betfair.
The campaign has launched a website www.payupbetfair.com and a twitter account @payupbetfair. The campaign has a single goal;
“As all other means have failed, we the sport of greyhound racing wish to speak as one to Betfair and Sky Bet and show them the impact that their lack of contributions are having on the sport. The future of the sport and it’s ability to meet it’s welfare commitments is in doubt. It is time for us to act”
The campaign is presently recording a video, asking owners, breeders, trainer, fans and punters alike to have their say. This is a message direct to Betfair appealing for them to reverse their decision made five yeas ago to no longer contribute to the BGRF. The next stage will be peaceful protests outside the offices of Sky Bet in Harrogate and Betfair in London. Also when Betfair and Sky Bet sponsor other sporting events we will be out in force gathering support for greyhound racing.
Our campaign will act legally and peacefully, but we do not promise diplomacy. We are fighting an uphill battle, with the Racing Post and RPGTV having Betfair as major advertisers and sponsors. Today (24/5/18) we published a post on our website asking the question whether the Racing Post had deleted all past references to Betfair not paying into the fund. We have asked them for a response, but the evidence appears to be compelling.
One of the leaders of the campaign Carl Harris commented:“Look I know this is going to upset people at the Racing Post and RPGTV as well as Sky Bet and Betfair, but it appears that both these firms have flatly refused to discuss the issue of funding with the GBGB. We are talking about a shortfall of well over £1m a year in combined funding. The sport faces the prospect next year of a negative budget. It seems a lot of people are doing Ok out of greyhound racing, but money has to go back into teh sport. Greyhound Welfare is the number one issue facing the sport and the inconvenient truth for some is that this will cost money, plenty of it. Its time for Betfair and Sky Bet to Be Fair with greyhound Racing”
Mark Pierrepont campaign leader and Chairman of the BBOTA commented: “I can only express my sincere disappointment at the continued refusal of Betfair, Skybet and others who refuse to pay their contributions to the voluntary greyhound levy. Please don’t be swayed by the term voluntary. Any right minded company would see clearly the moral obligation they have to the sport and to the greyhounds. Rather than having to scrap and fight for this money, Betfair and Skybet should be handing it over to the sport with a smile. I yet again urge Betfair and Skybet to do the right thing and pay what’s due. As chairman of the British Bred Owners & Trainers Association (BBOTA) I am spoken to regularly by many people within the sport with serious concerns for its future. The welfare initiatives that could be implemented by the sport’s governing body, GBGB, are countless, if only the non-payers do the right thing by the greyhounds and pay what’s fair and due.”
The pay up campaign is independently funded and has support from across the sport of greyhound racing. We ask everyone in the sport to add their voice to the campaign for Betfair and Sky Bet to Do the Right Thing and contribute to the funding of the sport.
Contact The Campaign [email protected]
Carl Harris 07872185793
