Pall of affordability checks hangs heavy over Cheltenham Festival - and punters may turn to on-course market

The Cheltenham Festival starts on Tuesday with the shadow of affordability checks lingering over the biggest betting week of the year and having the potential to ruin the enjoyment of a significant number of punters.

Over recent months, more and more people who bet have been asked by bookmakers to provide sensitive personal financial information to allow them to continue to gamble online and in betting shops, with those refusing to turn over the likes of tax returns and pay slips barred from placing wagers or having stakes heavily restricted.

Betting firms have upped their probing under pressure from the industry regulator the Gambling Commission, despite suggestions from its chief executive Andrew Rhodes that such checks are not mandated, as the wait goes on for the government to publish its long-delayed white paper into the review of the 2005 Gambling Act.

The review, promised as part of the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto, aims to make gambling regulation “fit for the digital age” but has been hit with repeated delays. Last month, Stuart Andrew became the sixth minister to be responsible for gambling since the review was launched in December 2020 and no clear timetable is in place for the white paper's publication.

This week, Entain, the parent company of Coral and Ladbrokes, reported all 28 races at the Cheltenham Festival featured in its top 40 racing contests in terms of betting turnover for the year, including eight of the top ten. 

"The turnover figures for last year prove beyond doubt the Cheltenham Festival is the biggest, most important week of the year for bookmakers and their customers,” said David Stevens, head of PR at Coral.

However, the potential spike in punter activity through the week risks catching large numbers of recreational punters in the affordability net for the first time, with the Horseracing Bettors Forum having voiced concerns gamblers will turn away from placing bets at Cheltenham as a result.

Ian Renton: Cheltenham boss predicts more on-course betting at the festival as the result of affordability checksCredit: Edward Whitaker

Views have also been expressed that affordability checks and account restrictions may lead to an uplift in punters betting with on-course bookmakers, with Cheltenham’s boss Ian Renton saying this month he thought “there will be more betting on-course as the affordability checks won't happen in the same way”.

Affordability checks could also lead more punters towards the unregulated black market, with a survey of 3,500 Racing TV members showing 15 per cent had already used the black market or knew someone that had, with racing also deprived of income via the levy as a result.

Michael Dugher, chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, the industry body representing the gambling industry, said on Monday the government needed to provide “a balanced gambling white paper” that protects vulnerable customers “while not spoiling the customer experience of the majority who bet perfectly safely”.

He added: “We need to stop intrusive, blanket low-level ‘affordability checks’, such as those called for by the anti-gambling lobby, which only serve to drive customers to the unsafe, unregulated black market online where there are none of the safer gambling protections that exist in the regulated industry and where not a penny is paid in tax to the Exchequer."

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