Jockey Club CEO-led anti-affordability check petition hits 15,000 signatures in less than 24 hours
Government set to respond to call to abandon measures as 100,000 threshold for parliamentary debate the next step
A UK government petition to stop the implementation of affordability checks has reached more than 15,000 signatures in 24 hours.
The petition, which was launched by Jockey Club CEO Nevin Truesdale yesterday, 1 November, is calling for the abandonment of the proposed measures.
Under petition law in the UK, the government must respond to any petition that garners more than 10,000 signatures.
When a petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in parliament.
Affordability checks have drawn mass scrutiny from the industry, with Truesdale’s petition the latest attempt to make concerns heard.
The affordability proposals, which made up part of the white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review, were part of a consultation by the Gambling Commission, which closed on the 18 October.
The proposals for affordability checks comprise of two levels. The first would see light-touch checks for a net loss of £125 within a rolling 30-day period, or £500 within a rolling 365 days.
The second assessment, at an enhanced level, would see checks deployed when a bettor has a net loss more than £1,000 in a rolling 24 hours, or £2,000 in rolling 90 days.
A statement accompanying the petition reads: “We want the government to abandon the planned implementation of affordability checks for some people who want to place a bet.
“We believe such checks – which could include assessing whether people are ‘at risk of harm’ based on their postcode or job title – are inappropriate and discriminatory.
“The proposed checks could see bettors having to prove they can afford their hobby if they sustain losses as low as £1.37 per day.
“We accept the need to help those with problem gambling but more intrusive checks triggered at a higher threshold risks bettors moving to the black market where there are no consumer protections or safer gambling tools.
“We are concerned there will also be a negative impact on British horseracing’s finances due to a reduction in betting turnover and resulting fall in levy yield,” the statement concludes.
Earlier this week, Kindred Group detailed its thoughts on affordability checks, giving a summation of its submission to the Gambling Commission’s consultation.