UK: Labour peer criticises financial risk check proposals for online gambling

Lord Lipsey is the chairman of Premier Greyhound Racing.

UK.- The Labour Party peer David Lipsey has criticised proposed financial risk checks for online gambling. Lord Lipsey, who is the chairman of Premier Greyhound Racing, says checks could have a detrimental effect on the greyhound sector because they could cause high-spending customers to “disappear”.

The former Economist journalist also drew attention to the voluntary betting levy that most bookmakers pay to the British Greyhound Racing Fund (BGRF) to support the sector. He said 51.4 per cent of the levy funds stay with the BGRF while 19 per cent go to regulation. However, the funding has been falling in real terms, from £11m in 2012-13 to £8.2m in July 2023 in figures adjusted for inflation.

Lipsey said: “Premier Greyhound Racing has no independent evidence on the impact of the proposed crackdown on affordability proposed by the Commission. However, greyhound racing, like horse racing, has some heavy hitter punters who would plausibly be put off betting on greyhounds if they were subject to onerous affordability checks.”

The government and the Gambling Commission say that the majority of gambling financial risk checks will be seamless and unintrusive. However, Lipsey says that in his own experience as a politically exposed person, it took an exchange of 32 emails for him to be able to keep a betting account.

He notes that the Gambling Commission expects that 3 per cent of checks will be more detailed. It foresees “hard” checks for customers who spend £1,000 in 24 hours or £2,000 in 90 days.

“These will almost by definition be the big punters,” he said. “Big punters are a mix of those with gambling problems and those who just enjoy a good bet. Greyhound racing like horseracing has done everything it can to encourage safer betting.

“But if the Gambling Commission insists on probing big punters, they will simply disappear. Some will go to the black market. Some will seek their kicks elsewhere.”

Lipsey’s comments on the matter come amid strong debate between the Gambling Commission on one side and the gambling and horse racing sector on the other. The Gambling Commission has accused critics of the proposals of spreading “misinformation”.

The regulator’s CEO Andrew Rhodes has described the work on financial risk checks as the “most challenging part of what we’re doing”.  A consultation on the issue closed this week.