Chancellor Rishi Sunak listens to fears over affordability checks on punters

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has contacted culture secretary Oliver Dowden about concerns raised by the racing industry over a Gambling Commission consultation which the sport fears could lead to a huge financial blow.

Sunak is the Conservative MP for the North Yorkshire constituency of Richmond which includes Catterick racecourse and the Middleham training centre.

Catterick wrote to Sunak recently as part of a wider effort by the sport to contact MPs over the consultation on "remote customer interaction" which includes enhanced affordability checks to tackle problem gambling.

Among the possibilities raised in the consultation and call for evidence is the prospect of the introduction of a threshold on net gambling loss of as little as £100, which would lead to customers having to provide evidence they could afford to lose more.

It is understood new BHA chief executive Julie Harrington raised the issue with her counterpart at the Gambling Commission Neil McArthur during an introductory meeting this week.

The Racing Post has seen a copy of one of the letters sent to MPs in the new year which details the £250 million hit for racecourse revenues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and speaks of a further £60m impact on the sport's revenues if blanket affordability checks as low as £100 were introduced.

It also highlights concerns that action could be taken without consulting parliamentarians and calls for the decision-making process to at least align with the government's separate Gambling Act review.

John Sanderson, group chief executive of Catterick's owner International Racecourse Management, said: "Catterick sent him [Sunak] a letter as suggested by the Racecourse Association because he is our MP and we had a very quick, very positive and friendly response saying he would raise the matter and that he had contacted the secretary of state at the DCMS.

"It was a very, very positive reply from him indeed, I thought."

Sanderson, who added Sunak had told Catterick he would contact them again when he had received a response, said the consultation was causing concern.

He added: "Affordability is a big worry as it is estimated to take £60 million out of racing. That is a hell of a lot of money under any circumstances."

Conor McGinn MP: Contacted by Haydock ParkCredit: Bernard Platt

Another politician to have been contacted is the Labour MP for St Helens North, Conor McGinn, one of the sport's staunchest supporters in Westminster who has Haydock racecourse within his constituency.

He said: "Like other MPs across parliament who have racecourses or racing interests in their constituency, I've been contacted by Haydock, who share a view across racing that some of the conjecture around affordability checks – if even anywhere near true – would be absolutely devastating for racing and its finances and furthermore seem completely unworkable in the context of betting on horseracing."

Kenny MacAskill, the SNP MP for East Lothian whose constituency includes Musselburgh, said the Gambling Commission's intervention seemed "unnecessarily bureaucratic".

"Whilst I am supportive of action on gambling this seems far too wide and ignores the real issues of online and other forms," he said. "It's akin in my views to clamping down on alcohol. Support pubs where it's supervised and regulated and address off sales where it's cheap and unregulated. It seems to me that racecourses and much of horseracing is the former."

He added: "There is a problem with gambling and protections are required but I believe that this is the wrong target."

That was a view echoed by Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley.

He said: "It's perfectly clear that the gambling industry needs to do more in making sure that people are not betting way beyond their means.

"We've obviously seen cases of people who have got into terrible debt and addiction and quite clearly the industry needs to do more to make sure that where people are gambling large amounts of money it's money they can afford to lose."

However, he added: "Putting a blanket limit on everybody is nonsensical. What the industry has got to do is find a way of making sure that it does actually do more to make sure that people can afford to lose what they are losing.

"Ultimately one of the main arbiters has to be the individual concerned. You can't take them out of the equation, you can't remove the individual from having some responsibility for deciding what they can or can't afford."

Read more

Affordability checks could drive punters away from racing says bettors' forum

Punters' body sounds warning on review's proposed affordability checks

Spend limits considered as gambling review is launched by government

Gambling Commission issues final warning to industry over VIP schemes

Ultimate Daily - our daily newsletters from Racing Post's experts, exclusive to the inbox of Ultimate Members' Club subscribers. To receive the newsletter subscribe at racingpost.com/members-club