Gambling debate about to be reignited - and racing's leaders must be vigilant about the direction it takes

This time last year the gambling industry and British racing were waiting anxiously for the government's plans to bring gambling regulation into the "digital age" to finally be published.

But, such are the vagaries of British politics, we are now 12 months on and both sectors are still waiting for the first consultations on those reforms to be launched, with the white paper finally having emerged in April following a series of delays.

Last summer the white paper, which was due to set out the government's proposals for gambling reform, was expected to be published before parliament entered its summer recess, but the chaos surrounding the final days of Boris Johnson's administration kyboshed that idea. The deadline for the first of the consultations being run by the Gambling Commission, which include the critical and controversial area of financial risk checks, is a little less formal, with the regulator's executive director Tim Miller having told an industry webinar recently that they would be launched by the time the school summer holidays start.