For the past year, the U.K. Gambling Review Body has undertaken a detailed look at gambling in the U.K., including submissions made by a number of concerned parties. One such submission comes from the British Horseracing Board, the governing authority for British horse racing. The BHB submission addressed a wide range of concerns, and offered numerous suggestions on how gambling could be updated or improved, both for consumers and for bookmakers. IGN has obtained a copy of the submission for your reading pleasure.
In the area of consumer protection, BHB recommendations include:
- A new authority, with overall responsibility for all aspects of gambling regulation, including betting, should be established, including ensuring appropriate protection for those betting on the Internet.
- This new body should examine more rigorously applications for bookmakers' permits and require them to provide a financial bond before trading.
- Gambling debts, owed by both punter and bookmaker, should be treated like other commercial debts and be recoverable at law.
- There should be an arbitration body for disputes between bookmakers and punters, similar to the current Independent Betting Arbitration Service but its decisions should be binding. All UK-registered bookmakers should be required to agree to accept its decisions as a condition of being granted a
betting permit and LBO (Licensed Betting Office) license.
- Procedures for returning starting prices should be scrutinized independently by the proposed new gambling regulatory authority and there should be a clear, binding, unequivocal code of practice.
Other proposals include:
- There should be a relaxation of current restrictions on the advertising of betting, particularly on television. Present controls do not allow for the proper promotion of betting and also constrain horse racing's ability to attract potential new customers.
- Section 13 of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963, which governs racecourses' charges to bookmakers, should be repealed, and racecourses and bookmakers left to develop their own commercial arrangements. These arrangements should require declaration of turnover by bookmakers;
- Racecourses should be permitted to operate betting facilities on non-race days, mirroring those available on race days and in LBOs, and to offer enhanced gaming opportunities as part of their development as leisure complexes.
- There should be increased flexibility in LBO opening hours, to take advantage of the anticipated development of floodlit evening horserace fixtures and global betting opportunities.
Click here to read the BHB submission in its entirety.