Gambling Minister Baroness Tywcross is right about the contribution betting makes, but the value we deliver is under threat, and must be protected
When Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross addressed the BGC’s AGM in central London days ago, she delivered some welcome home truths, too often lost in the noisy debate around betting and gaming.
In the stunning surroundings of the Institute of Civil Engineers, she told over 150 guests, “I have seen the value this sector brings. Not just in tax receipts and jobs created, but as a leisure activity, for example through a day at the races, enjoying a game of bingo, or time spent in a seaside arcade.”
She’s absolutely right. On “tax receipts and jobs created”, BGC members contribute £6.8bn to the economy, generate £4bn in tax while supporting 109,000 jobs. And you won’t see a truer example of the unbridled joy a “day at the races” brings than at the Cheltenham Festival which takes place this week.
Gambling Minister, Baroness Twycross, at the BGC’s AGM.
More than 250,000 racing fans will descend on Cheltenham for four days of world-class betting and racing. The UK’s second biggest spectator sport will attract millions more, watching the action from their homes, or a high street bookie, to witness the singular exhilaration of the ‘Cheltenham Roar.’
On top of the excitement racing and betting delivers, Cheltenham generates a transformative influx of cash into the local economy, with a study by the University of Gloucestershire finding the Festival was worth a whopping £274m to Cheltenham.
But the contribution Baroness Twycross is right to praise, on jobs, tax and as a leisure activity enjoyed safely by millions, is under threat on a number of fronts.
The first is the misguided convictions of the anti-gambling lobby, currently embarked on a prohibitionist crusade which has infiltrated the minds of public health zealots, and even some in our political world.
This is not a joke. One MP with a racecourse constituency described themselves as a “horseracing sceptic”, who “must take a nuanced position.”
He went on say, “gambling is not symbiotic with sport”, adding, “we no longer allow fast food companies to align themselves with sport, and we should treat gambling companies in precisely the same way.”
For the avoidance of doubt, racing and betting are completely symbiotic. Racing is directly funded by BGC members, who annually pour £350m into the sport via sponsorship, media rights and the levy. It’s punters pumping millions into racing and Cheltenham, and it’s not a good look for anyone to patronise them with “nuanced” positions.
In the face of such snobbery, the statistics are worth repeating, each month 22.5m people enjoy a bet, on the lottery, in bookmakers, casinos and online, while according to the latest NHS Health Survey for England, the rates of problem gambling among adults are 0.4 per cent. It’s an issue the BGC and our members are clear-eyed about and take significant steps to tackle – but it is not the public health emergency which warrants the anti-gambler’s campaigns.
It’s also under threat from the rising menace of the gambling black market. Key Findings from the Racing Post’s recent Big Punting Survey, which canvassed the views of nearly 10,000 punters, found over one in three high-staking bettors admitted using illegal bookies in the past year.
That study came hot on the heels of a bombshell report by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), which found that traffic to 22 unregulated betting sites offering British horseracing has surged by 522 per cent from August 2021 to September 2024, far outpacing growth in the regulated sector.
All this backs up the findings of an independent study by the BGC, which found 1.5m Brits were staking up to £4.3bn on the black market. These illegal operators suck millions out of sport, bleed cash from the Treasury and do nothing to protect those at risk of harm.
International experience has shown us that the best deterrent to the black market is balanced regulation. Look at Italy and Spain where advertising is banned, or Norway where there is a state monopoly, each of these countries has a black market that is out of control, accounting for up to 66 per cent of all money staked. And with that their problem gambling rates are up to six times higher than the UK.
In the face of these threats, we remain clear. Balanced, evidence-based regulations, including totally frictionless checks online, backed by a stable tax regime, are the best ways to defend the contribution and value Baroness Twycross was so right to highlight to the economy, to jobs, but also to people’s joy.
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