Gambling White Paper Released, Raises BHA Concerns

British racing's governing body the BHA has voiced concerns about just how "frictionless" the financial risk checks detailed in the long-awaited gambling white paper will be after the government finally revealed its proposals for reform April 27.

The measures include what the government described as "background checks at moderate levels of spend" to look for issues such as county court judgments, set at a £125 net loss within a month or £500 within a year.

A second tier of checks which might indicate "harmful binge gambling or sustained unaffordable losses" would come in at proposed thresholds of a £1,000 net loss within 24 hours or £2,000 within 90 days. Triggers would be halved for those aged 18 to 24.

However, ministers added their intention was that the checks would be "frictionless" and conducted online by credit reference agencies or through other means such as open banking, with documentation asked for as a last resort.

The government claimed checks would happen "instantaneously", that around eight in 10 players would not undergo the checks and that only around 3% of the highest-spending accounts would have more detailed checks. The measures will go to a Gambling Commission consultation this summer.

Speaking after the white paper was released, BHA chief executive Julie Harrington said: "In terms of the impact, the numbers around £1,000 and £2,000 are probably as we anticipated. The number around the less-intrusive checks of £125 is much lower."

She added: "The big unknown for us at the moment is how unobtrusive and friction-free those checks are."

Harrington said the sport would do its own due diligence to see if the 3% of punters subject to more detailed checks would be mirrored among racing's customers.

She added: "Our suspicion is that there will be a higher value punter in there so we would be more impacted than the average."

The subject of affordability checks has been one of the most controversial aspects of the government's gambling review, with campaigners having called for punters to have to prove they could afford gambling losses of as low as £100 a month.

British racing's leadership has warned that blanket affordability checks would be "highly damaging" to its finances, while Arena Racing Company last year estimated the sport was losing £40 million per annum from checks already put in place by bookmakers involving requests for personal financial information such as bank statements.

Asked about the demands for documentation that are already taking place, gambling minister Stuart Andrew said: "This is precisely why we are introducing these so there is actually a uniformity of approach across all of the industry so that the punters know that they will be treated in exactly the same way regardless of which operator they are betting with.

"For 80% of people who will be putting on a bet and taking part in gambling, nothing will happen with them. For the 20%, then there will be a background check but that will all happen almost without you knowing about it, and in some instances that is already happening.

"We just want to make sure that we have that uniform approach right across all operators."

The government also revealed that a review of the levy, British racing's central funding system, had commenced. It had originally been set to happen by 2024.

Gambling Review White Paper: The Main Proposals

*    Frictionless player protection checks starting with background checks at a £125 net loss within a month or £500 within a year

*    A review of the horserace betting levy

*    A statutory levy on gambling operators to pay for research, education and treatment of problem gambling

*    New stake limits for online slots games of between £2 and £15 per spin

*    Extra powers for the Gambling Commission to tackle the black market

*    Rules to prevent bonus offers such as free bets harming the vulnerable

*    Closing loopholes to make sure under-18s cannot gamble

*    A new industry ombudsman to deal with disputes and rule on redress