RacingBetter News
	Tuesday 28th January 2025

Horse Racing Affordability Checks: Should Bettors Be Worried?

Horse racing and betting. The two go hand-in-hand in the UK, where it’s extremely popular for people to spend their weekends watching horse races, placing bets, and sharing “acca” tips on social media. It’s become a huge part of the culture here, leading to the likes of bet365, Sky Bet, and William Hill attracting millions of horse punters. 

Traditionally, horse punters have had the freedom to bet as much money as they like, whether it’s a £10,000 lump sum bet on the Grand National or a £300 each-way accumulator on the Ascot Gold Cup. But moving forward, the freedom to bet whatever you want without being checked is going to be removed. Let’s take a closer look.

The Gambling Commission Has Now Implemented Affordability Checks

So, what’s going on? It’s simple, really.

A few years ago, the Gambling Commission proposed the introduction of affordability checks to protect punters from gambling-related harm, such as losing their savings or racking up debt. This is something the Government got behind, too, providing support in a white paper. With both the Gambling Commission and Government itself pushing for affordability checks, it was only a matter of time before the checks were made mandatory.

It’s now 2025 and ‘soft touch’ affordability checks have been introduced across the entire UK gambling industry. Here’s what they mean for horse betting punters who currently live here:

• From August 2024, punters have a £500 deposit limit and are required to undergo credit reference agency checks if they go above this amount
  
  
• From February 2025, this limit will be reduced to £150, leading to further controversy in the industry

The ultimate aim of these checks is to determine whether punters can actually afford what they’re betting. Naturally, the rise in mobile betting and increased usage of horse racing betting software has made betting on horses more widely accessible, so more punters than ever think they can beat the odds. But because millions more people are now betting on horses, it’s absolutely vital that they’re protected.

Some bettors are on extremely tight budgets and even use overdrafts (or borrow money from friends) to cover their bets, which is problem gambling. The hope here is that affordability checks will at least be able to reduce the number of problem gamblers year-by-year, with the Gambling Commission recently reporting that 5% of the UK population are at risk of becoming problem gamblers if they don’t seek help or protection.

Let’s say you decide to open a new account with Sky Bet ahead of the Royal Ascot. You’re planning to bet bigger than usual, so you deposit £550 into your account. In this instance, it will automatically flag your account for an affordability check. The check will be conducted by a credit reference agency and might require you to hand over some bank statements while the agency checks publicly available information about you, such as bankruptcy orders and unpaid debts. Once the check is complete, it’ll determine ‘yes’ (a player can afford to deposit this much) or ‘no’ (they can’t afford it). For example, if somebody attempts to deposit over the current limit but is found to be -£25,000 in credit card debt, they will be stopped from placing any future bets.

Already, this trend has started to capture attention, especially on X (formerly known as Twitter). Thousands of horse punters have spent the past several months complaining about the checks, with many confirming that they’ve already had to supply screenshots of bank statements to the sports betting apps they use. In their eyes, it’s not just an annoying inconvenience, but a serious invasion of privacy, too.

When it comes to the punters who have been impacted by the checks so far, they’ve been extremely vocal about it. To put it simply, they’re not happy. A recent Right to Bet questioned horse racing punters and discovered:

• 96% believe they — not the government or sportsbooks — are best placed to decide whether their bets are affordable
  
  
• 23% will spend less time betting if affordability checks stay mandatory
  
  
• 40% would be willing to switch to non-regulated black markets in response to future checks

The situation is perhaps best summed up by X user Luke Paton (@Golfpunter1) and his recent tweet:

“It is tough to explain how much the joy and excitement has been sucked out of placing a bet/betting. The account restrictions, the being treated like a criminal for placing a bet, the issues being paid, id checks, the ludicrous t&cs, affordability checks, lack of competent and fair regulators, etc. The joys of having to explain to operators what you are doing and why. Madness.”

It’s a fair perspective. After all, betting on any type of horse race was incredibly easy before last year. And in many ways, it still is. The problem now, though, is that the process can be slightly slower, some bettors aren’t able to bet as much money as they’d like to, and there’s a total lack of financial privacy.

Is this a fair trade-off if it means less punters turn into problem gamblers? Most people in the industry, from punters to British horseracing establishments, would probably say no. Seemingly, only a small minority, including the Government itself, believe these checks are a necessity moving forward.

What Happens If You Fail An Affordability Check in Horse Betting?

Industry insiders confirm that anyone who fails an affordability check by a credit reference agency could face a variety of different outcomes. So far, it appears the most common outcome (based on social media and forum discussions) is that bet limits are being placed on accounts, with £100 appearing to be the standard limit. On top of this, sportsbooks will be referring players to help resources (e.g. GamCare) to provide them with the best possible support. And in the most extreme cases, at-risk players will be outright banned from using any sports betting operators at all until their financial situations are resolved.

Affordability Checks Set to Lose British Horseracing £250 Million Over the Next 5 Years

Already, affordability checks are starting to have a major impact. The pre-off win market numbers for Betfair on Boxing day were £13,031,239 in 2023 but only £11,216,744 in 2024, a 14% decline. The obvious reason why is because a significant percentage of horse racing fans have had limits imposed on how much they can deposit, with these limits not previously existing prior to 2024.

Remember, this is just one example of the wider industry. All of the other major sportsbooks will likely be reporting a similar drop-off in numbers, too, especially when it comes to big races like the Grand National. And if this trend continues, the British horseracing industry is likely going to lose £250 million over the next 5 years.

This had led to British horseracing groups — including the NTF, ROA, RCA, and Arc — joining together to release a statement against the Gambling Commission. In the statement, they accused the Gambling Commission of “selling out the sport” and being “out of control and unaccountable” when it comes to the well-being of the wider industry.

If British horseracing does continue to lose money as a result of affordability checks, the negative impacts could be fatal. A decline in prize money, fewer races, and diminished investment in the sport are all realistic possibilities, so there is definitely cause for concern. Plus, there’s also the potential that this will drive countless horse punters to the black market, as seen by the increase in people using Google to search for betting sites without affordability checks.

Most Horse Racing Punters Won’t Be Impacted By Affordability Checks

What’s interesting about all this is that even though YouGov reports horse racing is the second most popular sport to bet on in the UK, only 8% of those who bet on horse racing spend over £100 a month doing it. Based on this, the vast majority of horse racing bettors will not be impacted by affordability checks moving forward, as they aren’t depositing or betting enough money for their accounts to get flagged.

Summary

One thing for sure is that the British horseracing industry is feeling the squeeze following the introduction of last year’s affordability checks. Many of its organisations are furious, with thousands of punters also continuing to voice their frustrations at the spending limits they’ve been hit with. Whether all of this will lead to affordability checks being eliminated — or at least reduced to a lower amount — remains to be seen. For now, though, the industry must continue navigating the choppy waters it finds itself in, with online betting turnover on horse racing down £3 billion over the past two years. The industry has plenty of time to bounce back, but cooperation will be needed from the Gambling Commission.