IRISH racing will be adversely affected if affordability checks for punters are introduced in Britain, says Horse Racing Ireland chairman Nicky Hartery.

Britain’s Gambling Commission, a Government agency, has recommended that bookmakers should be forced to carry out financial risk-checks on the highest-spending online customers.

It’s understood that the ‘white paper’ proposals suggest a first tier of checks if a punter loses £125 in a month or £500 in a year. Tighter checks are recommended where a punter loses £1,000 in a day or £2,000 over three months.

Despite Government assurances that the checks will be “frictionless” already some British punters, including racehorse owners, have reported being asked by betting companies to produce bank statements and salary slips if they wished to continue betting.

Martin Cruddace, head of the Arena Racing Company, estimates that the affordability checks will cost British racing £250 million over the next five years if implemented.

The matter is expected to be debated in the House of Commons in the near future following the submission of a petition with over 100,000 signatures which calls on the British government to abandon the affordability proposals.

Speaking at the HRI Awards this week, Hartery said: “The affordability issue has serious implications for us because we are intertwined with British racing to quite a degree, particularly around betting. We can see substantial changes coming if affordability checks are implemented.”

Hartery later expanded on his comments to The Irish Field. “A reduction in UK betting activity will affect media rights payments. If there is less betting there will be fewer streams of live Irish racing. Streaming revenue is what kept Irish racecourses going during Covid when racegoers were not allowed on the track.”

The HRI chairman also made a reference to Ireland’s Gambling Regulation Bill, which threatens to stop Racing TV and Sky Sports Racing from broadcasting their current output in Ireland due to the inclusion of betting advertising during daylight hours.

“We stand behind the Government in trying to regulate gambling. We have made submissions on behalf of the racing industry to the Department of Justice and we are working through it with the Department to make sure it comes out on the right side.”

HRI is set to receive €76 million from the Government next year and an outline of how that will be spent is expected to be announced shortly after HRI’s board meeting next Wednesday.