How affordability checks are threatening my hobby and the future of racing

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I had 12 bets last week and didn’t back a single winner. The previous week I had eight bets and backed three winners.

Maybe I took my eye off the ball by reading the updated version of the Highway Code? If you believe that you’ll believe I ride an e-bike to the newsagents every single morning.

On Friday I received a warning on my sole remaining online account that I was close to reaching my ‘loss limit’ for the month.

That particular loss limit is £900, introduced – without any consultation – at the end of last year owing to the affordability checks process.

During the punting week January 16 to 22, I staked a total of £4,190 with the three firms who will still lay my bets.

Over the course of the past 20 years I have sometimes laid out up to £25,000 a week in the peak summer months.

It doesn’t take a Mensa member to work out that I am going to find it very difficult in the current climate to continue to pursue my hobby/business in the way I would like.

I have sufficient funds to enter the ‘second-home’ market. I could go and buy a £60,000 speedboat yet would probably only use it twice a year.

Nobody would bat an eyelid if I went on a Kardashian-type shopping
trip and maxed out on all four of my credit cards.

I could spend £40,000 in Ikea refurbishing my house, but am not permitted to lose more than £900 per month on my online betting
account. Why? Merely because some members of society cannot control themselves when they gamble. Why should I have to suffer because of them?

Large swathes of society in Britain think it is hilarious to go out every night and get hammered in the pub.

If you are going to restrict the ability of people to bet as much as they want, why not limit beer drinkers to one or two pints each night?

We are rapidly hurtling head-first into a new world which, if allowed to go unchecked, is going to present enormous future funding problems for horseracing.

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Can the prime minister's words be trusted when it comes to affordability checks? (Members' Club)

The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday