IRISH racing’s finances look very likely to be significantly impacted by this week’s news that online punters in Britain are to be subjected to financial checks once they reach certain spending thresholds.

Known as ‘affordability checks’, the measures are being introduced by Britain’s Gambling Commission as a means of protecting consumers who may have addiction issues. It is not clear exactly how the checks will be carried out but it is widely feared in the racing and betting industries that many high-staking punters will have their accounts closed once they refuse to share details of their income sources.

As British racing is chiefly funded through a statutory levy on bookmaker profits from bets on British horse racing, anything that drags down betting turnover will affect prize money and cash available for integrity services.

A highly-experienced betting industry source told The Irish Field: “The need for customer protection is uncontested but for the Gambling Commission to completely disregard the evidence and data presented to them by racing shows the complete contempt they hold the betting industry in.

“Affordability checks – or financial risk assessments as the Gambling Commission has re-branded them – are forecast to cost £250 million over the next five years to UK racing. That is going to have a massive negative effect on the funding of UK racing.”

Asked how this would affect Irish racing, the source said: “Luckily, funding for Irish racing comes directly from Government and is not dependent on bookmakers’ profits.

“But the value of media rights will decrease significantly as existing and prospective racing bettors are turned away from the sport. It will also lead to the closure of retail shops and will, eventually, force the closure of the racecourses that are heavily dependent on media money.”

”Self-harm”

In a strongly worded statement reacting to the news, the British Horseracing Authority’s chief executive Brant Dunshea branded the decision “one of self-harm on an immense scale”.

He said: “We are hugely disappointed that the Gambling Commission will implement affordability checks which will have severe financial implications for British racing and the UK economy and subject racing bettors to unwarranted levels of intrusion.

“Over a number of years, and through several consultations, British racing has engaged in a spirit of huge goodwill to honestly advise the Government about the potential impact this policy would have on our sport and its fanbase.

“These concerns were shared by the betting industry, politicians, campaigners and policy makers, who warned of devastating unintended consequences on two major industries that are worth billions of pounds to the UK economy and employ more than 200,000 people across Britain. We understand these checks have been proven by the Gambling Commission’s own pilot to not be ‘fully frictionless’ as originally promised by successive Government ministers.

“Rather than protecting consumers, these checks will have the opposite effect: driving more customers to the illegal market – which puts them at much greater risk of gambling-related harm – and starving the Treasury of much needed tax revenue.

“Objective evidence from across the globe makes clear that this decision is one of self-harm on an immense scale that will have damaging economic and societal implications.”

Abdication of duty

The statement went on to say the decision was a “clear abdication of duty by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport” and that it is “the latest in a long chain of events that shows how little the DCMS has done for the country’s second-favourite sport”.

The BHA added it will now seek to work with the DCMS, the Gambling Commission and the betting industry to find ways to mitigate the worst impacts of the policy.

Estimates from the Betting and Gaming Council recently stated that as many as 120,000 people could be asked to provide documents to prove their identity, but the Gambling Commission stated the “vast majority of customers will never require a Financial Risk Assessment”.

The first stage of the implementation will see the checks carried out by the largest operators when a £5,000 net deposit in a rolling 24-hour period is met.

Once fully implemented, the assessments will be applied to customers aged 25 years or older with net deposits exceeding £1,000 in a rolling 24-hour period or £3,000 over a rolling 90-day period. For under 25 these thresholds will be reduced to £750 in a rolling 24 hours or £2,000 in a rolling 90 days. Irish customers of the big British betting chains are unlikely to be subjected to financial checks. The betting industry source said: “It would not make sense for UK operators to implement these checks unnecessarily [on Irish customers]. It would be counterproductive to their argument in the UK and would be used against them by the Gambling Commission.”