The government is listening to concerns about the future of British racing

Culture secretary Lucy Frazer outlines the government's latest position on affordability checks . . .

There is nothing quite like the thrill of a racecourse. The thunder of the hooves. The surge of adrenaline as the horses rush past the stands. The feeling, as Angel Cordero jnr once said, that any horse can win on any given day. That's what makes this sport so uniquely compelling.

British horseracing has millions of followers across the globe and makes a huge contribution to our economy – the industry supports 85,000 jobs and generates £4 billion for the economy every single year. To put this in perspective, every 20 horses in training are worth more than £5 million to the UK economy.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak and I know how much racing means to the country, the people who support it and those millions who enjoy it every year.

As readers of the Racing Post know, in April we set out our plans to bring the analogue gambling regulations into the smartphone age. One of our central proposals is to clarify the process around financial risk checks, to help ensure people are not betting beyond their means and suffering harm.

I want to assure readers that the government has no intention of overregulating what for some is their profession and for most people, is a casual hobby.

The Racing Post has played a crucial role in championing a common-sense approach to affordability that doesn’t affect the vast majority of people who enjoy gambling safely. At the moment industry-run checks, which are designed to spot unaffordable losses, are often inconsistent, ad hoc and can be unnecessarily onerous, with customers having to manually provide reams of personal data to navigate a maze of different tick-boxes.

The Gambling Commission is consulting on online checks that were designed with punters in mind. These will be frictionless checks and based on data sharing. They will apply to only the very highest spenders. And there will be no new requirements on betting at the track, or at the local high street betting shop.

This government is not in the business of telling people how they can and can't spend their money. But we know, for some, gambling leads to a dangerous cycle of addiction that can feel impossible to escape. We have a duty of care to those at the greatest risk of devastating and life-changing financial losses.

The current status quo is simply not giving any customer a good experience. With new, proportionate financial risk checks, we can change that for the better with a frictionless system based on data sharing that protects those high-risk individuals. I can assure Racing Post readers we will never roll out the proposed checks until we are certain they do what they say on the tin.

While we, of course, cannot pre-empt the outcome of the Gambling Commission's consultation, we are hugely grateful to the 2,400 people and organisations who have contributed. The government is listening. British racing is a prized sporting institution, watched and enjoyed by millions around the world. The prime minister and I are determined to keep it that way.

Read more . . .

BHA chair welcomes culture secretary's support and promise of 'frictionless' affordability checks 

'Take a minute to sign the petition' - racing unites in opposition to affordability checks 

'It could be catastrophic for the sport' - punters and racing urged to sign petition against affordability checks 

Five reasons you should sign the affordability checks petition 

Affordability checks: sign the petition now 

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