Over 400 leading racing figures call for affordability checks to be scrapped

They could be confirmed by the Gambling Commission in the coming months and the letter in The Sun newspaper, signed by trainers, owners and jockeys, plus Labour and Tory MPs, warns that more punters will be driven towards the black market.

Some forecasts suggest they could cost racing's finances around £250million over the next five years.

BHA chief executive Brant Dunshea said on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “It’s no secret we’ve been concerned about these ever since they were originally first raised as a policy position.

“Increasingly, as we’ve seen the impacts of the process linked to the pilot of the affordability checks and the downturn in turnover, and what we’re seeing also happening in other overseas racing nations, where similar interventions have been put in place, we’re really concerned that they are not achieving the policy objectives.

“Right now our concern is that we understand the Gambling Commission are considering the outcome of the pilot scheme, and we’re concerned that government are not properly aware of the impacts, and this potentially being pushed through by the Gambling Commission.”

Dunshea stopped short of saying the BHA’s position was to have no affordability checks whatsoever, but added: “We have been of the view that the Commission must be able to demonstrate that they are truly frictionless.

“We recognise that there is a need to have measures in place to protect vulnerable consumers. We still believe that’s appropriate, but the way affordability checks are being proposed at the moment does not go anywhere near meeting that commitment that had been given under the previous government.”

The letter to Lisa Nandy

We are writing to express our deep concern over plans to introduce affordability checks for betting — due to be signed off by the Gambling Commission’s board next month — and urge the Government to rethink a policy which will cause lasting damage to British horse racing.

For more than 350 years our sport has enjoyed a uniquely interdependent relationship with betting.

A day at the races and a flutter on the horses is something that is deeply embedded in the British way of life.

But this cultural, social and economic institution is now at risk if the decision to impose affordability checks for even low levels of betting goes ahead.

It was the last Conservative Government that proposed afford-ability checks as part of its gambling policy to make betting fit for the digital age.

While the intention was sensible, the delivery has failed.

Instead of making it easier and safer for people to have that flutter, regulatory changes have only made it harder.

Little wonder then that growing numbers of people are now betting illegally rather than be subjected to the intrusive checks more appropriate for securing a mortgage than engaging in a legal pastime enjoyed by millions of Britons.

Even a survey by the Gambling Commission found 66 per cent of punters saying that they would not feel comfortable about operators using credit reference data.

This unprecedented state intrusion into people’s private lives has dismayed the millions of people who love horse racing.

Over 100,000 signed a petition against the checks in 2024, triggering a Westminster Hall debate at which then-minister Stuart Andrew MP said that the checks would only be introduced if they were “truly frictionless”.

The subsequent Gambling Commission pilot of affordability checks involving Credit Ratings Agencies has proved that a 100 per cent success rate is not possible.

Despite our repeated warnings, the Commission seems intent on pursuing this highly controversial policy regardless of the consequences for Britain’s second most-popular sport.

These proposals would do lasting damage to a major British industry, which provides more than 85,000 jobs, contributes more than £4billion to the country’s economy and is a leader on the world stage.

Your Government demonstrated it recognised this risk when the Chancellor used her Budget to give the Gambling Commission £26million to tackle the burgeoning betting black market.

Adding a further layer of regulation right now would be at best a grave misjudgment and at worst a gift to the criminal underworld that benefits from these illegal betting operations.

The landscape has changed since your Government took office and it is time for us all to work together to find a better solution.

It is not too late for you to reconsider the unintended consequences of your predecessor’s policies and “Save Our Bets” to secure British horse racing’s future.