BHA Director Warns ‘We’re Not Being Listened To’ as Financial Risk Checks Deadline Looms

On Thursday, senior figures within the Gambling Commission will meet to discuss whether or not to implement the financial risk assessments scheme that they have been piloting.

And the director of corporate affairs at the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has warned that government ministers are ‘not listening’ to the input of the sport’s key stakeholders ahead of their deadline.

After attending a meeting with governmental officials last week, Greg Swift – whose sport relies heavily on the support of the gambling sector – revealed his belief that concerns over the introduction of the controversial checks are ‘simply being brushed off.’

Pulp Friction

Swift sat down with key figures last week, including the UK government’s gambling minister Baroness Thatcher, in a bid to flesh out the concerns that horse racing has with the proposed affordability checks.

The financial risk assessments, which have been piloted behind the scenes since 2024, would represent the first occasion in which the spending of UK punters is subject to administrative scrutiny.

Any individual that loses £1,000 or more in the space of 24 hours, or £2,000 or more in a 90-day window, would be subject to a check that determines whether or not they are at risk of financial vulnerability.

Betting sites would be required to use available data, such as that on file at credit reference agencies, to check for financial risk in a so-called ‘frictionless’ manner. According to the findings of the Gambling Commission’s pilot study, frictionless assessments were performed in 97% of cases.

Many industry bodies agree that stricter checks on big spending individuals are welcome, however critics argue that high stakes punters will simply take their business to black market operators instead – putting them at risk of financial harm and depriving horse racing of much-needed levy income.

Swift told ministers in their behind-closed-doors meeting that the introduction of financial checks as proposed would cost the betting industry around £900 million a year… as well as a £300 million annual black hole in tax revenue for the Treasury.

It is not known publicly whether the financial risks assessments scheme will be given the green light, although reports suggest that government officials have been pleased with the results of the pilot study.

However, the chancellor Rachel Reeves did provide horse racing with an exemption from the gambling tax hikes announced back in November, which has given the sport’s stakeholders hope of a second reprieve.

The Brush Off

That said, Swift left his meeting with numerous influential individuals last week feeling pessimistic about the outcome.

Speaking to the BHA’s podcast, he revealed that the discussions were both ‘testing’ and ‘challenging’.

“We do have a growing sense of frustration that we’re simply not being listened to; that there’s only one side of this argument that’s being accepted, and that all the protestations both we and the betting industry make, are simply being brushed off,” Swift said.

He also described the Gambling Commission as an ‘unelected quango’, querying why the regulator has been handed the power to oversee the financial risk assessments study without governmental intervention.

Swift warned of a lack of ‘parliamentary scrutiny’ of a decision that could have a huge impact not only on the gambling sector but also horse racing itself, which derives more than £100 million a year from the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) that it reinvests in prize money, racecourse improvements and equine welfare services.

But the BHA director did suggest that one of his discussion points did have a profound impact on the meeting. Describing the £300 million that the government could lose in taxable revenue to the black market, Swift commented:

“That’s when the ears prick up. That’s when the government thinks 'hang on'.”