New twist in affordability checks row demands answers from Gambling Commission

Culture, media and sport committee questions bear a striking similarity to those racing industry has been asking

Last Tuesday’s announcement by the Gambling Commission that it planned to introduce “Financial Risk Assessments” – or affordability checks – for gambling customers seemed to mark the end of racing’s fierce, five-and-a-half year campaign against the policy, but there has been a further twist to the extended tale after it emerged that the culture, media and sport committee (CMSC) has written to the Commission, requesting answers to a series of questions on the checks by 24 July.

The cross-party committee’s questions for the regulator bear a striking similarity to many of those that the racing industry has been asking – to little or no avail – since checks were first proposed under the last Conservative government in late 2020.