Jockey Club CEO: Affordability checks are a “state overreach”
Nevin Truesdale continues to push back against proposed measure following Westminster debate earlier this week in yet another strong defiance to the proposals
The Jockey Club CEO Nevin Truesdale has claimed affordability checks are a “state overreach” following the debate on the topic in Westminster earlier this week.
Truesdale, whose petition sparked the debate, was speaking on GB News yesterday, 27 February, in another pushback against the white paper proposal.
The debate, which saw MPs such as Philip Davies and Matt Hancock give the industry their backing, ultimately ended with Gambling Minister Stuart Andrew confirming his intentions to push ahead with the measures.
Speaking on the channel, Truesdale said the checks would severely impact the horseracing industry, before championing the sector’s contribution to the national tax budget and noting the sport was already reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic four years ago.
He said: “There’s no other leisure activities industry regulated in that way by the government or anybody else.
“Nobody tells us how much we can spend on shoes or clothes or a meal as was suggested in the debate, so we’re struggling to see why something like gambling that’s enjoyed by millions of people perfectly safely should be regulated in this way.
“What’s being proposed here are one-size-fits-all checks that are going to impact not just on betting on casinos and slots, not just in sports, but on all betting, certainly on horseracing.
“It’s very important that the measures that are in place are in proportion. They don’t overregulate and that they don’t put us in danger, which is what’s happening at the minute of driving people into unregulated black market activity.
“All that does is move the activity to a place it can’t be seen and it can’t be monitored. And actually you don’t solve the problem. You just move it to a place which means that you basically don’t address it at all.”
Black market concerns were also raised by Hancock during the debate, as the former Conservative Minister pointed to PwC research which pegged December 2022 black market site visits at 250,000 people.
EGR detailed the extensive debate, looking at the key speeches and insights from MPs from both sides of the conversation.