'We have to fight' - Andrew Black says affordability checks could destroy racing

Affordability checks could destroy racing and the sport must unite to resist their introduction, Betfair co-founder and owner-breeder Andrew Black has warned in a rallying cry to the industry.

Anti-gambling campaigners are calling for intrusive financial checks to be introduced on punters, potentially triggered by as little as £100 spend a month, as part of the government's ongoing review of gambling laws.

Racing has estimated the potential cost to the industry if affordability checks are introduced at £100 million per year in lost media rights and levy as punters refuse to comply with the checks or turn to black market bookmakers.

Black, who also sits on the Commission on Crime and Gambling Related Harms, sees the introduction of limits on people's ability to gamble as an existential threat to the sport he loves.

"For me, affordability checks are the single biggest story out there and the single biggest thing we have to combat as an industry is the Spanish inquisition that is coming our way," Black told the Racing Post.

"It's going to get worse. We've got to be confrontational when it comes to dealing with this because we're dealing with people who consider themselves as on a mission.

"There is a great deal of self-righteous indignation and the only aspect of gambling that some people see is problem gambling, which is a legitimate concern, but there are significant issues around personal freedoms and at the moment those arguments are coming second, which worries me.

"Until someone comes up with a better idea, as far as I'm concerned capitalism is the place to be. Seeing that come under threat you wonder how it all plays out and we've got to fight for our rights – including the right to piss away our money on irresponsible things if we want to. That for me is a fundamental human right and something I'd fight for ahead of a lot of other things. I hope others would too.

"There's a strong culture in the gambling community and that's being eroded and we need to stand up for that. If we sit here and do nothing we'll get progressively beaten up by people who don't understand the culture they're trying to erode. It's a problem and it's a battle worth fighting."

He added: "I believe in caveat emptor in all things. People have to take responsibility for their own actions and I think gambling is an absolute right."

Black, who himself has been blighted by three separate calls attempting to assess his means and place limits on his accounts, a process he labelled "patronising and annoying", sees a cultural shift as a big factor.

"It's the spirit of the times. We're wrapped up in more control, a stronger, more powerful government, and the people at the forefront aren't progressive liberals and young people, it's the old-style nanny state," he said.

'Prize-money will fall dramatically because the available excess will come way down'Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"Politicians who for years have wanted government to exercise more control now they feel their time has come. The pandemic has resulted in government acting in a far more authoritarian fashion, they're being allowed to do so and they have the backing of social media, so they're emboldened in that respect. It's a political shift and one that's very unwelcome for racing and it could be super-disruptive for the industry.

"I don't see how racing doesn't become increasingly unaffordable. The less money there is in the pot, it will start falling over. Prize-money will fall dramatically because the available excess will come way down. The entire industry is threatened at the moment and if we just sit there and watch it's not going to play out well. We need to be very active in our opposition of this as I see it."

Black believes it is not just racing that is under threat. He says the gambling industry will look very different and sustain heavy casualties as well, which in turn could be racing's death knell.

He added: "The smaller, more specialist bookmakers are saying all of their customers are going black market and they're losing them. There's nothing they can do because their hands are tied with regards to affordability and they think it's probably going to get worse.

"If you start tweaking the numbers [down] across the industry then an awful lot of businesses could become unprofitable and there could be quite a big fallout, so I'm worried as someone within horseracing because if the money starts to dry up it will happen very quickly and it could be quite a shock.

"You can't get the same money on Betfair right now, you can't have the same-sized bets that you used to. I don't bet as often as some but when I do I bet in reasonable size and I know it's quite difficult to get a decent-sized bet on these days and that's never happened before.

"My assumption is that's got to be down to affordability [checks] – I'm a little bit distanced from it all these days so I'm working on assumptions but I don't see any other obvious reason."

It all creates a problem Black believes the sport simply must react to, although he wonders if it has the ability to do so. "Racing's caught in a stasis with all these different bodies and because they don't agree it's always business as usual," he said.

"The whole industry could die from inaction because we can't get ourselves aligned enough, and we have some people out there who look at affordability and think there's some good here and some bad, so they don't want to combat it outright as they think there's something to be had in there that might suit their politics.

"But as an industry in my opinion we have to get 100 per cent behind opposing it because it goes against everything racing stands for."

Read more on this subject:

'The industry should be looking at how people bet, not necessarily how much'

'A genuine menace' – is the threat from the black market being taken seriously?

Inside the black market: big bonuses, personal managers and no safeguards

Gambling review may be 'bullet between the eyes' for racing, warns John Gosden

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