The latest BHA Podcast finds host Nick Lightfoot at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile during the Betfred Guineas Festival.
As the crowds flock once more to enjoy world class racing at one of British sport’s iconic venues, the threat posed by affordability checks continues to loom large.
The BHA’s Director of Communications Greg Swift explains to Nick why this is such a pivotal week.
Later, Lucy Gurney stops by to explain how you can get involved in the 2026 Racing Together Community Week.
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Affordability checks – Save Our Bets
The sport has come together to make clear its opposition to what are more commonly known as affordability checks.
More than 400 people from racing and cross party MPs/Peers signed an open letter to Lisa Nandy MP, the Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, urging her to instruct the Gambling Commission to stop the roll-out of the checks this spring.
Racing and betting have also joined forces with The Sun newspaper’s ‘Save Our Bets’ campaign and we have launched an online portal for racing fans and punters to write to their local MP asking them to put pressure on the Government to halt the checks.
Why are we doing this?
According to betting operators who have worked on the Gambling Commission’s pilot of checks, which has been running for more than 18 months, the credit reference agencies (CRAs) used are obtaining vastly different results for the same customer and an insufficient level of data to profile customer risk. It means that if these checks were implemented now they would not be entirely ‘frictionless’ for punters.
It would mean some would still be required to hand over personal financial documents such as payslips and bank statements, but at new, lower thresholds than the current 2024 Voluntary Industry Code.
As the BHA and racing have outlined consistently since the publication of the 2023 Gambling White Paper – including in our ‘Right to Bet’ campaign that year which saw over 100,000 people sign our petition which led to a debate in Parliament – affordability checks as they stand would have severe consequences for the sport’s finances.
And in allowing the GC to implement the checks in their current form, the Government would also directly contradict its own position.
Previous DCMS Minister Stuart Andrew MP said checks would only be implemented if they could be proven to be “truly frictionless.”
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Racing Together Community Week 2026
Racing Together Community Week, British racing’s national week of employee volunteering, will take place from 18–24 May 2026, bringing together organisations from across the sport to support communities nationwide.
Last year saw a record 90+ racing organisations, including racecourses, trainers, owners and staff, take part in the initiative, delivering a wide range of volunteering activities that made a positive impact in local communities.
Now in its seventh year, Racing Together Community Week has more than doubled participation since 2020. The initiative celebrates the collective efforts of the British racing industry to support local causes through activities including school outreach programmes, charity partnerships, community clean-ups, food bank support and wellbeing sessions.
New for 2026 is an optional theme designed to inspire new volunteering ideas and align activity across the sport.
Racing Together is encouraging organisations to support work addressing loneliness in local communities. The charity is currently delivering a BHA pilot programme, funded by the Racing Foundation, at six racecourses exploring how racing can help tackle loneliness in the areas surrounding racecourses.
This work forms part of the sport’s social impact strategy, find out more here. Those interested in aligning their activity with this theme are encouraged to contact Racing Together to discuss ideas:
[email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ireland