Affordability checks have wreaked havoc - the government must now show it is listening to your concerns

It took fewer than 30 days for the petition against affordability checks to smash through the 100,000 barrier, making it one of the fastest growing petitions of 2023 and sending an unequivocal message to the government: it is time to think again.

The strength of feeling revealed by this petition has been coming to boiling point over the last three years, as more and more bettors have been caught in the net of intrusive financial checks and the cost to racing and individuals deprived of their pastime became ever more evident.

Affordability checks are supposed to prevent problem gambling, a cause every responsible bettor and everyone in racing supports. But the checks are a blunt object solution, a policy based on vibes not evidence. They have already wreaked terrible damage – and there is little to suggest they have made any positive impact whatsoever, never mind justify the deep collateral damage.

As of today, tens of thousands of racing bettors have already been caught up in checks. Ordinary, responsible people have been faced with extraordinary demands to hand over their most sensitive financial documents if they wish to continue betting. Most have point blank refused.

An unknown number, certainly many thousands strong, have found they have no legal options remaining to bet on racing, and have been left with no choice but to walk away from a pastime they have enjoyed for decades. Others have turned to the black market, a fact the government and Gambling Commission consistently downplay, as if they can wish away an inevitable ramification of their own mishandling of the situation.

The consequences for racing have been dire. As the Racecourse Association chief executive David Armstrong warned on Tuesday, the sport's income from betting has suffered a double digit percentage decline this year. Bookmakers are withdrawing customer incentives and promotion of the sport. Owners, unable to back their own horses and tired of low prize-money, are walking away. Faced with declining revenues and a barrage of rising costs, tracks are likely to cut prize-money next year, compounding the damage to the sport.

It is a state of affairs that can only be laid at the door of the government. And it begs the questions: do the Conservatives wish to be the party that will send horseracing, a centuries-old sport that millions cherish and sustains tens of thousands of mostly rural jobs, into terminal decline? Does the party that claims to champion personal freedom realise it is now the party of financial inspectors, subjecting ordinary people to an insulting form of state-sanctioned intrusion and oversight?

Thankfully, it is not too late to rectify this mess. The government has promised it will only introduce official affordability checks when it is confident the issues around them that have been covered extensively in this newspaper are resolved. The checks should not happen at all, but if they must then they must be truly frictionless – happening in the background and without impacting credit reports – and they must be targeted. The consequences of getting this wrong will be catastrophic.

The petition against the introduction of affordability checks has been signed by more than 100,000 peopleCredit: (racingpost.com/photos)

More urgent, however, is what the government does immediately. Affordability checks are a present and devastating reality. The Gambling Commission has denied responsibility for their introduction, but runs a punitive regime that fines firms that do not meet unwritten rules around checks. So the government must step in and ensure that proportionate, transparent interim measures are in place to ameliorate the current situation.

The government should also ensure that the commission genuinely listens to those who responded to its affordability checks consultation. The regulator's chief executive Andrew Rhodes seems to have virtually declared war against racing, accusing those who backed this petition of wanting unchecked gambling and its media, including this newspaper, of spreading misinformation. These attacks are unworthy of a public regulator, but more importantly reveal a disdain for dissent that cannot be allowed to influence its consultation response.

Most optimistically, this expression of public anger should prompt the government to ask again whether blanket affordability checks are really the answer to reducing gambling harm. This newspaper would enthusiastically endorse more targeted measures such as uniform markers of harm and protocols for intervention, compulsory customer-set deposit levels and monthly P&L statements.

Having hit 100,000 signatures, the petition will now be considered for debate at Westminster. Given its societal, sporting and economic importance, it must surely proceed to that outcome. A debate would afford MPs a critical opportunity to scrutinise the government's policy around affordability and the impact it is having on racing and its customers. It would also offer the government a precious opportunity to show it is truly listening to the fans, bettors, stable staff, owners, trainers, jockeys, racecourse staff and thousands more who love racing and are imploring it to change course before it is too late.

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Line-by-line analysis of the government's response to the affordability checks petition