In the latest blog from the Corporate Affairs team, Policy & Advocacy Manager Jack Barton reflects on the Gambling Commission Board’s decision to not (yet at least) sign off on state-mandated affordability checks, the evaluation of the Gambling White Paper, the APPG for Gambling Reform’s latest report and the potential for change at the top of the Labour Party.

“The Gambling Commission board met to consider next steps on financial risk assessments. It was presented with an extensive evidence base but has not yet fully completed its assessment of that evidence. We will communicate further in due course.”

This was an update that this author freely admits he did not expect to read following the Gambling Commission’s Board meeting on Thursday May 21.

Following a frustrating couple of months, where serious concerns largely fell on deaf ears, it was welcome confirmation that the intense joint lobbying from racing and betting – both publicly and behind the scenes – had the desired effect of pausing the implementation of affordability checks, at least for now.

The penetrating media and political campaign opposing the checks required a significant effort from across British racing. We thank everyone who played their part in ensuring that the message was heard loud and clear that this policy should not happen without further assessment of its impact on the sport.

Activity has included:

– An open letter to Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Secretary of State Lisa Nandy MP, signed by over 400 leaders and figures in British racing, and supportive politicians, asking her to stop the checks.
– The creation of a ‘write to your MP’ online portal for racing fans to ask their MPs to write to Lisa Nandy to stop the checks. Thousands of letters have been sent.
– A BHA-led stakeholder letter-writing campaign in which racecourses, stud farms, owners and trainers have written to their MP urging them to put pressure on Government.
– Numerous articles in the news pages of daily papers including several leaders and op-eds.
– Multiple meetings with Ministers and senior advisers in the Treasury and DCMS.
– The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Racing & Bloodstock members writing to Lisa Nandy urging her to act. Letters have also been sent to

Treasury Ministers Dan Tomlinson MP and Lord Livermore requesting they intervene due to the risk of black market growth to the Exchequer.
Short of an official update, it is unclear what happens next, but further delay seems inevitable. The next Gambling Commission Board meeting – where the policy will likely be on the agenda once again – will presumably be the next big moment.

The political will still seems to exist from this Government to make these intrusive checks a reality, with DCMS confirming in a recent Parliamentary Question response that they still support “the intent of the policy”. So, it remains vital that work is undertaken to address some of the flaws with the policy exposed by the pilot. It seems clear that the fact of these flaws left the Board in a position where it did not feel comfortable enough to sign off on the checks and the next phase of work.

What was also apparent before Thursday 21 May, and remains so, is that horseracing and the betting public should be given the opportunity to see the “extensive evidence” presented to the Commission Board. As it considers what comes next, this should be a priority for the Commission and would go some way to addressing the trust deficit that has built up over the course of the pilot phase and ahead of the recent Board meeting.
The Commission Board’s decision leaves us in a holding pattern. What happens next via the new Implementation Working Group, on which we understand representatives from the Commission, DCMS and Betting will sit, matters enormously.

We will be closely monitoring the next steps of this process, providing scrutiny where necessary. This is not over, and we may be back to ask for your support once again.

Gambling Evaluation Advisory Group

An unexpected development thrown up by our campaign was the revelation following Dr James Noyes’ principled resignation from the Gambling Review Evaluation Advisory Group that such a group even existed. And not only does this group exist, but said group is apparently “failing to carry out its functions in a proper manner” and relying on entirely qualitative methods rather than real world data.

In our extensive engagement with the DCMS since the 2023 White Paper, and even in official on the record responses to parliamentary questions, this has not been mentioned by the Department and the reluctance even now to reveal the group’s wider membership until after the findings have been published surely raises questions about the level of transparency surrounding the pilot tests of affordability checks.

It is worth noting that Dr Noyes has long been viewed by many in betting and racing as anti-gambling given his role as a pioneer for the concept of checks, and his withdrawal of support can be seen as somewhat of a bellwether of just how widespread concern now is about this policy.

As his remarkable resignation letter makes clear, he not only believes that proper checks and balances are not being applied to this policy, but also that, what is now being planned is so far beyond his original proposal that it will not deliver the frictionless, non-intrusive process that was promised and will instead risk causing serious harm to British racing.

Regarding checks and balances, it would be reasonable to expect that responsibility for a public policy that will impact two multi-billion-pound industries, and the country’s second-favourite sport, should reside with our elected Members of Parliament.

Why the DCMS, which is responsible for our sport and the betting industry, has washed its hands of a policy which it devised and instead handed power to an unelected quango remains a mystery.

As we continue to push for answers on why this has happened, responses to Parliamentary Questions on the 26th of May from DCMS Minister Ian Murray to APPG for Racing and Bloodstock members Bob Blackman and Jack Rankin have confirmed that we are expecting the findings of NatCen’s evaluation of the Gambling Act Review later this year.

The same answer to Bob confirms that “financial risk assessments” (FRAs) are not in scope of that evaluation, which, to put it bluntly, seems quite selective. While I am sure the Department would cite the delay to the implementation of FRAs as their reasoning, what is the point of evaluating a wide-ranging review if the most controversial and potentially impactful policy is not accounted for?

APPG for Gambling Reform report on sponsorship and advertising

Previously, this blog predicted that the next gambling policy battleground would be sponsorship and advertising, and the APPG for Gambling Reform’s report, which recommends a significant tightening of the current regulations, was the latest entrant into that debate.

Following a conversation with the APPG’s clerk, we have had confirmation that the racing carve out recommended by the report’s authors Alex Ballinger and Dr Beccy Cooper would apply to all of the policy recommendations made in the report such as banning all gambling advertising before the watershed and stopping betting operators from sponsoring individual programmes. It was pleasing to once again see the unique relationship between horseracing and betting recognised.

While concerns around the impact on children and young people of seeing such advertising is not without merit, what is increasingly clear is that the priority should first be to ensure that illegal operators are not targeting UK consumers, especially on social media.

DCMS will soon be releasing a consultation proposing a crackdown on illegal gambling sponsorship and advertising in the UK and we will be offering British racing’s full support for such a move in our response.

The race for No10

Following the lacklustre performance of the Labour Party in both the local elections in England, and in the devolved elections in Scotland and Wales, we, like many of you, have been watching with interest as the various runners and riders have set out their stall for replacing Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.

The Makerfield by-election in Royal Ascot week, which could see Andy Burnham returned to Westminster as a Member of Parliament looks key, and we expect to see a pause in proceedings until then.

Rest assured that if there is a change in leadership which delivers a considerable change in the make-up of this Government, we will be proactive in engaging with any new Ministerial teams.