Punters urged to complete Horserace Bettors Forum survey to ensure their views are represented

Punters are being urged to participate in a betting survey being conducted by the Horseracing Bettors Forum (HBF) to ensure their views are represented as well as possible in discussions with leaders in the betting and racing industries.

Last conducted in 2021, the HBF betting survey is being launched at a time of particular angst for punters, who are increasingly facing requests from bookmakers for personal financial information as part of intrusive affordability checks to allow them to keep betting, and also having bets restricted by layers or accounts closed.

The HBF was established in 2015 by the BHA to represent the interests of punters within horseracing.

As such, Sean Trivass, chair of the HBF, said the more punters who engaged with the survey the more sure the organisation could be when presenting matters, both positively and negatively, to the likes of the BHA and prominent figures in bookmaking.

“We believe we are there to represent the person on the street who is betting on racing in shops or online,” said Trivass. “As a result, the more feedback we get the more confident we can be when speaking on issues.

“We’re interested in the positives and the negatives people have experienced, what their betting habits are, and we can then take this into discussions we have with bookmakers and the BHA. My thanks has to go to HBF members George Ryley and Ben Fellowes for creating the survey. It should only take five minutes or so to complete, but helps us a huge amount.

“Without conducting the survey we can draw our conclusions from our own experiences and the feedback we may receive online or in emails, but we want to get as broad a base as we can.”

The survey is live and can be found on the HBF twitter page, @HbfBritain, or by clicking the link here. It will remain open until Sunday, April 16.

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