Pushing casino gaming on sports punters is a bad bet for bookies

You might imagine bookmakers would be treading on eggshells as they stare down the barrel of the long-awaited UK gambling review but that was not the impression they gave during the Cheltenham Festival when attempting to lure sports bettors into online casinos.

The government will outline its proposed reforms to the outdated Gambling Act – which came into force in 2007, long before betting on smartphones – with a white paper in the coming weeks, although specific dates appear to be unfashionable in the corridors of power. There has been plenty of speculation about its possible ramifications for the gambling industry and British racing, but few people expect this process to be anything other than bruising for both of them.

Several stringent measures have been bandied around but the worst-case scenario for racing centres on the introduction of intrusive affordability checks, which could limit the amount people can bet without having to prove they can afford higher levels of losses. It is not an exaggeration to say they pose an existential threat to racing, with an estimated cost to the sport of up to £100 million in lost revenues a year.