Our government is overseeing a decline in a sport which brings so much joy to every part of society, alongside billions to our economy

In a statement written on behalf of British racing's stakeholders, Arena Racing Company (Arc) chief executive Martin Cruddace criticised the Gambling Commission in response to new figures that showed a £3 billion fall in online betting turnover on the sport in real terms over the last two years.

The statement in full

We will shortly be writing to the secretary of state and prime minister to outline our major concerns with these figures. Bluntly, the Gambling Commission increasingly appears to be unaccountable and out of control. Moreover, it continues to be unable to demonstrate any evidence as to the impact that the current affordability measures are having on problem gambling rates.

It is well established that the commission wishes to introduce affordability checks on a minimal sum per day sitting at a similar rate to a range of everyday items from a child's Happy Meal at McDonald's or a ticket to the cinema.

The previous government had agreed a range of more sensible interim measures with the commission and betting industry, which have still not been implemented under the guise of anti-money laundering issues.

Equally, the commission published the Gambling Survey for Great Britain in July this year, despite admitting to having serious doubts about the reliability of the data. We have ended up with a somewhat dystopian situation of the commission pleading that the survey is not used to estimate problem gambling rates, which is exactly what a number of gambling-related pressure groups were promptly able to do.

Furthermore, there is a well-documented history of the Gambling Commission providing millions of pounds of public funds to anti-gambling activist groups. Some of these funds have been spent in support of campaigning and propaganda, in direct breach of the commission's own rules.

I, and everyone across British racing, have major concerns that the Gambling Commission is more preoccupied with attending overseas conferences than with the wholly unnecessary decline of our great sport and industry at home.

We all imagine that every racing jurisdiction across the world, none of which has the concept of affordability, is looking at the UK perplexed, wondering how our government can oversee such a decline in a sport which transcends and brings so much joy to every part of society, alongside billions to our economy.

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