BHA Still Claims Lack of FRA Consultation by Gambling Commission

The British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) dispute with the Gambling Commission is escalating, with the BHA maintaining its argument that it was not consulted by the British regulator in the lead-up to the July 7 announcement of the impending introduction of financial risk assessments (FRAs).

The Commission claims it did consult with the racing industry ahead of the announcement, listing nine occasions where it met with various stakeholders, but the BHA says none of these were in the immediate build-up to the announcement of FRAs.

Commission’s defiant response

In a letter dated July 22, the Commission’s Acting Chief Executive Sarah Gardner responded to five questions the Commission had been sent by Dame Caroline Dinenage MP.

In the third of these questions, Dinenage mentioned some stakeholders have told the Committee that engagement from the Commission throughout the process has been “insufficient”.

In the final question meanwhile, Dinenage said stakeholders have informed the Committee that there may be no representation from the racing industry within implementation groups that will help with the next stage of delivery.

In response, Gardner listed the nine occasions where the racing industry met with the Commission. This included meetings with the leadership of the BHA, such as a CEO to CEO meeting in April this year. It was not made explicitly clear though that any or all of these meetings touched upon FRAs.

Gardner also mentioned operational level meetings with BHA officials which took place during the consultation period, as well as discussions with horseracing’s leadership, including meeting its Sports Gambling Strategy Group and the Horserace Betting Levy Board.

BHA still not happy

However, the BHA has suggested these meetings mentioned by the Commission were not recent enough prior to FRAs being announced. A BHA spokesperson is quoted by the Racing Post as saying:

“We're disappointed that the Gambling Commission’s response to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s letter does not recognise our concern about its engagement with stakeholders and due process.

"The Commission did not engage with the BHA in the weeks leading up to the board’s decision and subsequent announcement on July 7. This was despite our best efforts to do so."

While the Commission said it would publish the full dataset behind its decision to implement FRAs in the autumn, the BHA has also questioned this process, with the spokesperson adding: “The commission has now admitted that taking the decision to implement affordability checks without publishing the evidence was outside its normal process.

“In addition – despite the major issues in the process that have now publicly come to light – the Department for Culture, Media and Sport continues to delegate policymaking to an unelected quango.”

Exact terms of FRAs

FRAs will be implemented as a result of one of the recommendations of the government’s 2023 Gambling White Paper. The first stage of implementation will be carried out by the largest operators, where a high spend of multiple thousands of pounds across a 24-hour period is identified.

For most players, this will mean a £5,000 net deposit in a rolling 24-hour period, which the Commission said less than 0.5% of players exceed. Once fully implemented, FRAs will be applied to players aged 25 or older with net deposits exceeding £1,000 in a rolling 24-hour period or £3,000 over a rolling 90-day period.

For players under the age of 25, the threshold will be reduced to £750 in a rolling 24 hours or £2,000 in a rolling 90-day period.