The British Horseracing Authority offered a cautious welcome on Thursday to a proposal by the Labour party to ban gambling advertising around televised sporting events should it form the next government – but did so only on the basis that racing’s TV coverage would be exempt from a ban.
Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, published a series of proposals for stricter regulation of gambling following a year-long policy review. In addition to a “whistle-to-whistle” ban on TV advertising, he pledged to end the use of credit cards to fund gambling accounts and impose a 1% levy on the gross profits of operators to fund the treatment of Britain’s estimated 400,000 gambling addicts.
Notes issued in conjunction with the announcement suggest that during the football World Cup in Russia last summer, coverage on ITV – which showed about half of the 64 matches – included nearly 90 minutes of gambling advertising, more than any other type. The briefing notes also stress that “sports intrinsically linked to gambling such as horse racing will be exempt” from any advertising ban.
A blanket ban on television advertising by gambling firms that included racing coverage would almost certainly have a significant impact on betting turnover and therefore the sport’s income from bookmakers’ profits. It would also reduce the value of racing’s media rights to broadcasters such as ITV, which paid £30m for a four-year terrestrial monopoly on racing coverage from January 2017 in the expectation that revenue from gambling adverts would generate a healthy profit on its investment.
If racing is exempt from any ban, however, it could have the opposite effect, increasing bookies’ focus on racing and boosting the value of the only sports-related TV advertising slots still on offer to gambling firms.
“British racing welcomes the recognition of the traditional and intrinsic links between the horse racing and betting industries in this review,” Will Lambe, the BHA’s executive director responsible for strategy, said on Thursday.
“As a socially-responsible sport, we look forward to continuing our engagement with the Labour party on gambling policy and will emphasise our case, as made to government previously, for a specific exemption for horse racing in any consideration of pre-watershed gambling advertising restrictions.”
A Labour government introduced the last major reforms to gambling legislation in the 2005 Gambling Act, which included legitimising the introduction of high-stakes fixed-odds betting terminal gaming machines in betting shops.
Racing is already making preparations for the impact of possible shop closures following the success of a long-running campaign to see the maximum stake on FOBTs reduced from £100 to £2.
Newbury 1.10 Chil Chil 1.45 Aplomb 2.20 Genetics (nap) 2.50 Sufficient 3.25 Dashing Willoughby 3.55 Nebo (nb) 4.30 Ice Gala 5.05 Zzoro
Ayr 1.30 Guildhall 2.00 Chapman Billy 2.30 Shallow Hal 3.05 Junius Brutus 3.35 Magical Dreamer 4.10 Dark Defender 4.45 Arrowtown 5.20 Frame Rate
Newton Abbot 2.10 No Hiding Place 2.40 Aunty Ann 3.15 Casement 3.45 Vexillum 4.20 Highway One O One 4.55 Guerilla Tactics
Newcastle 5.50 Altra Vita 6.20 British Art 6.50 Victoriano 7.20 Hula Girl 7.50 Ladies First 8.20 Suppressor 8.50 Sienna Says
9.20 Brendan
Tips by Chris Cook
