Newmarket trainer calls for more interaction to encourage racing people to sign petition as signatures pass 90,000

People working in racing may need a clearer steer on the damage to the sport that is being caused by affordability checks, one of Newmarket's leading figures said on Tuesday, as a petition calling for a halt to the intrusive measures passed 90,000 signatures.

The petition launched this month will be considered for debate in parliament once it reaches 100,000 signatures. In a response to it, posted last week, the government said it remained committed to “proportionate, frictionless” checks on gamblers.

The largest number of signatures have come from people in the West Suffolk constituency that contains Newmarket. However, the 1,122 supporters of the motion only represents around a third of the number of individuals directly employed in the sport in the area, and less than one per cent of the total number of people living in the district.

A local impact report for the horseracing industry in West Suffolk published in March showed that 3,285 people were employed in the sport in the constituency, with an economic impact on the area of £256.2 million.

However, a greater level of interaction with those likely to be impacted as a result of the checks – which the sport has estimated could result in a £250m hit to its finances over the next five years – may be necessary, according to John Berry, the Newmarket trainer, councillor and former town mayor.

He said: “If we can trigger a debate about this in parliament that would be very good. The rights and the wrongs of it all would be aired and MPs would be able to hear them and understand it all. You would like to think the merit of preventing the Gambling Commission from doing anything drastic would be abundantly clear to everyone involved in the debate. 

“Political apathy here is as bad as anywhere else – so racing is no different to wider society in that respect and many people don’t want to lift a finger to help. It’s going to be a case of chipping away to get to that figure and it might take a higher level of engagement on the ground in racing.”

John Berry: political apathy in racing as pronounced as anywhere elseCredit: Edward Whitaker

The number of people signing the petitions in other racing centres has also been lower than might have been expected. Fewer than 1,000 people have added their names in Newbury, Thirsk and Malton, Richmond (Yorkshire) and South East Cambridgeshire, which contains the July course and the National Stud, representing less than one per cent of the constituents in each case.

Berry said he was likely to discuss the matter with his staff in the next few days as a way of highlighting the issue more explicitly, and said: “In a few days I might say something to them, I haven’t quite decided yet. I’ve been humming and harring about it as I wouldn’t want it to ever come across as something I’m telling them to do – we’re well past those days. 

“However, explaining that this is about the prosperity of racing and it’s in our interests to help the sport thrive as it’s what we gain employment from is what I'll likely say. Then it can be up to them whether they want to do it. This is something that might have to happen elsewhere to engage people.”

A “sensible balance” between protecting gamblers and overregulating them needed to be reached on any changes to legislation, according to MP Louis French. Last week, the Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup questioned sports minister Stuart Andrew on the impact affordability checks were having on punters and racing, prompting Andrew to state the government’s desire for “uniformity” to the checks already taking place as work continues on making them frictionless.

French told the Racing Post: “Clearly this is a complex area of regulation, but fundamentally I do not believe it is the government’s or a company’s place to tell people how they can spend their hard-earned money and leisure time. I welcome the commitment of the sports minister not to overregulate the safe enjoyment of racing, which is a British tradition enjoyed by many people across our great country. 

“The gambling industry should of course continue to promote safer gambling via personal choice tools such as deposit limits for online accounts and also help those with addiction wherever possible, but there has to be a sensible balance to avoid unintended consequences, such as increased risks of a black market developing and a negative impact on a sport where Britain continues to lead the world.”

Punters and the racing industry are being called on to sign a petition calling on the government to stop the implementation of affordability checks. You can sign the petition here.

Read these next:

Boss of Cheltenham Gold Cup sponsor Boodles says affordability checks would be an 'absolute disaster' 

BHA welcomes government response to British racing's petition against affordability checks 

Line-by-line analysis of the government's response to the affordability checks petition  

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