'The funding model is broken due to industry fragmentation' - Hong Kong Jockey Club chief issues warning to British racing

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Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), has warned that British racing is "close to an inflection point" due to a broken funding model linked to the fragmentation of the industry and external pressures including the changes to gambling taxation.

Speaking at Sha Tin racecourse, the head of one of the world's largest and most successful betting and racing jurisdictions also said that the overregulation of the betting industry, allied to the use of affordability checks by gambling operators, "practically drives" customers to the black market.

Earlier this week, BHA chair Lord Allen issued a plea to British racing to work together. He said the sport is on a "burning platform" and that it needed to be more commercial, just weeks after Gambling Commission statistics revealed a six per cent year-on-year decline in betting turnover on the sport.