Making sense of racing’s ‘£3bn black hole’ and affordability checks row

Accusations have been thrown by both sides in betting dispute but there may be hope for racing amid the noise

The increasingly frenzied cycle of claim and counter-claim over the impact of “affordability checks” on punters on the sport’s revenue stream from betting moved through several gears at once last week, with “out of control”, “unaccountable” and “thorough misunderstanding” among the accusations being thrown in one direction or the other.

It all kicked off when a wide range of racing’s stakeholder groups, including the Racecourse Association (RCA), the Racehorse Owners Association (ROA) and the National Trainers Federation (NTF) gave their support to a statement issued by Martin Cruddace, chief executive of the racecourse operator Arena Racing Company (Arc), on Wednesday.

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