'My everyday life is shattered - these implementations will destroy my life and it's to appease a minority'

In a new series, we speak to Post readers and racing fans about the impact affordability checks are having. First, Lewis Porteous talks to Peter Byrne

If there were any doubts as to where Peter Byrne's priorities lie, his reply to an email request for an interview cleared things up succinctly.

"Any morning up until the first race is fine with me," was the attentive response from the retired electrical engineer, who lives for racing, with possibly only his beloved Liverpool FC able to distract him once the on-course action starts each day.

Byrne is engaging, intelligent, articulate and a keen punter. His career, which he loved, took him across the globe and to some of the most revered destinations in the world, yet there was always a part of him that yearned for a quieter life where racing, gambling and Liverpool came first.

He has been happily living that life for a number of years – but things have begun to change over the past six months.

Since the arrival of affordability checks in gambling he has found it increasingly challenging to bet to the same level he has for years because of restrictions being imposed – as low as £500 a month with one firm – on his accounts by bookmakers. The freedom he had to do what he wished with the money he worked a lifetime to accrue is slowly being prised from his grasp.

After reading last month how the Gambling Commission plans to implement the affordability checks outlined in the government's white paper for reform of the gambling industry in April, he wrote a letter to the Racing Post that spread widely on social media, reaching thousands who shared his sense of despair and anger at the regulator's actions and a government that apparently "considers me incapable of managing my own finances".

Since then, Byrne's fears have only grown that he is being frozen out of the sport that is his passion.

"I had an amazing job and spent time in the royal palaces, the Vatican, the White House and places like that, but I still looked forward to retiring, and betting and gambling on horses was always going to be a massive part of it for me," he says from his home on the Wirral.

"I get up in the morning, get the Racing Post around 6.30am and my whole day revolves around betting on the horses.

"My health isn't up to standing in a betting shop all day, going on long walks or getting the train to the theatre, and the first time I was frozen out by my bookmaker I was getting up and thinking, 'What the hell am I going to do today?'

"On the days I'm frozen out, it dramatically changes the quality of my life and, judging by what I read, I fear it's going to become even more draconian. It's already taken the pleasure out of the sport for me."

While the hugely controversial affordability checks became official policy in the government's white paper, it at least promised to moderate their impact on ordinary bettors.

The reality so far for Byrne is that checks have already had a crippling impact and that is why so much rested on the Gambling Commission's consultation document, setting out exactly how and when these affordability checks would be activated in the future.

Most alarmingly, the guarantee from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport that checks would be "frictionless" does not appear to tally with the Gambling Commission's proposals.

Peter Byrne: deeply frustrated by affordability checks

Despite enjoying a successful career and selling his house since his retirement, Byrne is among those who are likely to face the most intrusive checks, simply because he does not have a regular income any more.

Unwilling to hand over his personal financial information now, or ever, he is left to bet with one hand behind his back, knowing that if he reaches the monthly limit imposed on him by bookmakers he will be locked out of his betting account.

So here is someone who has contributed hugely to the economy and created jobs for others, gambled within his means for his entire life, acting prudently with regard to his finances, yet can no longer enjoy his pastime and is being told how much of his own money he is allowed to spend each month.

"I keep looking at my limit because I know how much being frozen out affected me," he says. "It shouldn't be like that. I know it sounds melodramatic but it really does affect you. This is sinister.

"It's an infringement of my human rights and civil liberties to have to tell somebody how I want to spend the money I worked for for 50 years.

"I had my own business, was awarded a royal warrant by the Queen, worked for the royal family for 25 years doing all kinds of projects for them and employed many, many people who all paid their income tax and national insurance. Now I'm coming to the end of my life and I can't do what I want to do because the government wants to appease a minority.

"What they're doing is irresponsible. Bookmakers are giving people a facility to spend their money how they want and the government is taking that facility away from them, which leaves them taking it away from me. What they're doing is immoral. I'm 70, have all kinds of illnesses and it's depriving me of doing what I want to do with the last few years of my life."

Even if Byrne did hand over private information to bookmakers, he would likely be subject to further financial checks every six months under the regulator's new proposals, while being a profitable bettor over a sustained period of time apparently counts for little.

Having digested the proposals out for consultation, Byrne can see little future for his own punting and fears it could well be the same for the wider racing industry.

"I feel for people who have a gambling problem but the results of this going pear-shaped is going to be monumental to the whole of the betting industry," he says.

"Backing horses is part of English culture. We've done it for years and should be able to continue. I don't think the government's advisers realise the impact this is going to have on jobs, income to the Treasury and on people like me.

"As sorry as I feel for people who are gambling addicts, I don't see why their problem should destroy the fabric of my life. My everyday life is shattered. This is a transgression of my human rights. These implementations will destroy my life and it's to appease a minority."

Byrne also sees it as inevitable that the black market, which is disconnected from British racing's funding model, will thrive.

"The best analogy I can think of is prohibition in America," he says.

"When they brought in laws to stop people from drinking, all it did was drive it underground and the mafia flourished. There's no question that illegal gambling will flourish. The British racing industry would have collapsed decades ago only for Sheikh Mohammed, and now we've got a government who are going to collapse it right under our noses. It really does make me angry.

"Once the illegal bookies get to grips with it all, it could lead to the end of an English tradition that means so much to so many people, and will bring trauma and misery."

• To complete the Gambling Commission's consultation on affordability checks, visit racingpost.com/consultation and follow the instructions.
• The Racing Post also wants to hear from you: What has been your experience of affordability checks since the white paper was published at the end of April, and what do you think of the government's proposals? Have affordability checks affected your betting behaviour?
• It's a chance for your voice to be heard. Email the Racing Post at editor@racingpost.com with the subject 'Affordability checks' to share your experiences, your thoughts about the government's proposals, and your contact details.

Your stories of affordability checks:

'Who the hell came up with this idea in the first place? It must be a small minority who don't like gambling' 

'Having a bet is part of ownership and it has just got more and more difficult' 

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