Industry figures call for pause on affordability checks over £250m hit to horseracing

Leading industry bodies have called on the government to pause affordability measures after warning the policy could lead to a £250m black hole in horseracing over the next five years.

In a letter penned by Arena Racing Company CEO Martin Cruddace, and backed by several major organisations, Cruddace has asked the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) chief Lucy Frazer to stop the introduction of formal checks.

The letter has been signed by the Racecourse Association, Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association, The Jockey Club, National Association of Racing Staff, Racehorse Owners Association, National Trainers Federation and Professional Jockeys Association.

Cruddace drew on analysis from advisory firm Regulus Partners which suggests that affordability checks will cost the industry an estimated £250m over the next five years.

The Arena Racing Company chief claimed that the sport had already lost more than £1bn in online turnover due to existing checks since 2021, with operators moving to introduce measures ahead of formal legislation.

The consultation period for affordability checks will close on 18 October.

The affordability checks proposals, put forward as part of the white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review, will require operators to carry out checks on customers who lose £125 in 30 days or £500 in a year at the lowest level, with enhanced checks for punters with net losses of £1,000 in 24 hours or £2,000 in 90 days.

Cruddace suggested the existing checks put in place already by firms had had “no material impact on any of the nine current indices to measure gambling-related harm”.

Cruddace wrote: “We are calling for the government to pause the proposed affordability measures. The debate is crying out for objective research, which the new statutory levy can help fund.

“From all the research by pressure groups and trade organisations I have seen, objectivity is a clear stranger.”

He continued: “There is overwhelming consensus across the industry, as demonstrated in this letter to the government, that further measures will decimate our sport that millions are passionate about and ultimately cost the industry over £250m.

“That will threaten the future of multiple racecourses across the UK and many thousands of jobs.”

Cruddace warned Frazer that should the measures go ahead, UK horseracing faces the risk of becoming the “sick man of Europe”, before adding that current proposals would not deliver on the government’s aims set out in the white paper.