Nick Luck

BHA CEO Brant Dunshea: 'If I go to a dinner and I want to buy 2 or 3 bottles of wine... I am not asked by the waiter whether or not I can afford it and whether or not it is going to cause me any harm and thats a pragmatic approach to regulation.'

For decades off-course bookmakers have restricted winners. That has always been the reality. But before affordability checks racing punters still had liquidity on Betfair, could get proper bets on and could actually WIN. That gave the market confidence, liquidity and strength and kept serious punters involved in racing. Everyone involved in racing should be fighting the over-regulation and over-taxation of gambling. That means fighting the anti-gambling lobby, the Gambling Commission and the DCMS, not the industry that puts £350m a year into British Racing. Making bookmakers the scapegoat helps nobody except people who fundamentally hate gambling. Bookmaker restrictions are not the reason racing is facing a crisis now. Those restrictions existed during racing’s strongest periods as well. Affordability checks alongside a potential advertising ban would be a disaster for the sport. Racing should be fighting both before even more damage is done.