MP calls on government to publish white paper amid concern for racing's income

Conservative MP Laurence Robertson has called on the government to hurry up and publish its gambling review white paper as he voiced concerns over the damage to British racing's income from "unintended consequences" of its proposals.

Robertson, whose Tewkesbury constituency includes Cheltenham racecourse, urged the Gambling Commission to regulate proportionately and to be guided by the government's objectives.

He was speaking as the wait goes on for the publication of the long-delayed white paper stemming from the gambling review launched in December 2020.

The white paper is expected to include proposals on the controversial subject of affordability checks on bettors, although checks already put in place by bookmakers are estimated to be costing the sport tens of millions of pounds in revenue.

Both the racing and betting industries have been calling for clarity from government, but repeated changes in personnel mean that Stuart Andrew has become the sixth gambling minister since the review was launched, although his appointment has not yet been made official.

Laurence Robertson MP: "I've said to the government either bring it out or drop it"Credit: Nicholas Jones

Robertson said of the white paper: "I've said to the government either bring it out or drop it. For goodness sake let's see it because everybody is shadow boxing at the moment because we don't know what's there. It's causing a lot of mayhem. The Gambling Commission is trying to take the lead on things which perhaps they need guidance on. It's very worrying."

He added: "I know we have had changes of ministers which has not been helpful but even so, let's have it out, let's have a discussion about it and see where we go from there. There might be quite a lot of things that we can agree on, so let's see it."

Robertson, who is a parliamentary adviser on sport and safer gambling to the Betting and Gaming Council, noted comments by previous gambling minister Paul Scully that it was not for the government to decide how much people should spend on gambling.

He also said he was concerned about the principle behind affordability checks, adding: "Nowhere else do you get asked to produce your income or whether you can afford to buy a bottle of wine or anything else. It's only when you borrow money or seek to borrow money that you have to prove your income or your ability to pay it back.

"We need a more specific approach to deal with people who have or might have problems rather than everybody who has a bet, in the same way that we don't treat everyone who has a drink for alcoholism because they are not alcoholics.

"I think we need to be careful with the philosophy behind all this and, even if we do go down that route, let's discuss it and let's do it properly."

Robertson said he is concerned about the damage to racing's income flowing from the betting industry should the wrong action be taken.

"There are two big things I would put to government," he said. "One is the link between betting and racing, that racing is dependent for a large proportion of its income on bookmakers. The second point I would make that perhaps a lot of people wouldn't appreciate is that racing is not a rich sport, it is actually a very poorly funded sport.

"Okay, there is plenty of money in the top one per cent, but racing is a pyramid and most of the pyramid does not have much money in it. The government really needs to appreciate that even a relatively small downturn in income for racing would have a significant impact.

"Those are the points that I am striving to get across to government. There is every sign they do understand that but we have got to keep them focused on that so we don't get unintended consequences."

The gambling white paper is expected to include proposals for affordability checks for puntersCredit: Julian Herbert

The Gambling Commission has been accused of mandating intrusive affordability checks before the government has set out its proposals, although the regulator has vehemently denied doing so.

"I think they've got to be guided by policy, guided by legislation and guided by what the government's objectives are," Robertson said of the commission.

"They have got to be conscious that the vast, vast majority of people who have a bet do so harmlessly and do not have any problems or consequences of that at all, and not to throw the baby out with the bathwater."

He also called on the commission to act in a "proportionate manner" and to recognise the potential threat from the black market.

"They have put one or two things out that suggest that they don't quite buy that but I think the evidence is there that would say it very much is a danger," Robertson added. "That's unregulated, unsupervised and doesn't bring in any money to racing.

"They should bear in mind the impact they could have not just on the betting companies but also on the sport."

Ministers have said the white paper will be published "in the coming weeks".

Read these next:

Eight things the new ministers need to know about the gambling review 

Exclusive: Sports minister Stuart Andrew set to take on gambling brief 

The Big Punting Survey: one in six have already been hit with affordability checks 

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