Santander told a customer his gambling was 'high' - it's no wonder that customer was left fuming

One thing leads to another. If you repeatedly keep pumping out the same message or mantra, no matter how flawed, people will often believe you. That, in part, explains why our freedom to bet is being challenged and British racing faces a precarious financial future.

Almost two and a half years have passed since I penned a special report that ran under an intentionally powerful headline, 'The Plot Against Gambling'. The article set out to show how a coalition of unlikely bedfellows, incorporating politicians, media outlets, health professionals, academics, regulators and clerics, were setting out to change gambling forever. Following the recent revelation that online betting turnover on racing fell by the equivalent of £1.75 billion in the last financial year, thus costing the sport tens of millions of pounds, it appears the coalition is doing rather well.

That November 2021 Sunday Big Read began with a sadly all-too-true tale from the House of Lords where Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, a former law lord and justice of the Supreme Court, stood up during a second reading debate on the Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill and admitted having "very little expertise about gambling", but then said: "I recognise that gambling is a huge attraction to some – a craving, an addiction and, in truth, a cancer in our society today."