As covered in yesterday’s Racing Post, the British Horseracing Authority is concerned by the findings of the study published by the IFHA today which lays bare the considerable growth in website traffic on sites not licensed in the United Kingdom from 2021 to 2024.

The study, conducted by James Porteous, Head of Research for the IFHA’s Council on Anti-Illegal Betting and Related Crime, found that in four years the total number of unique visits to 22 of the most popular non-UK-licensed sites which take bets on British racing grew by 522%, with over 600,000 unique visits per month taking place between January and September 2024.

In the same period, the number of unique visits per month to 10 legal UK licensed sites (all of which offer British racing) grew by just 49%.

It also found that the total number of visits to these unlicensed sites increased by 131% in four years, with almost 1.3m visits per month taking place between January and September 2024.

In the same period, the total number of visits to 10 legal UK licensed sites grew by just 25%.

Although the study is limited in scope and does not present the full picture, it is clear that while the illegal market remains small in comparison to the legal market, its growth has accelerated considerably in recent years.

This of course comes at a time when British racing has lost £1.6bn worth of remote betting turnover in just two years. In our October 2023 “Right to Bet” survey of over 14,000 racing bettors, it was found that 1 in 10 were already using the illegal market for their betting.

While no direct causation is drawn in the study between the policy announcements made by the UK Government on gambling in recent years and a move to the illegal market, the current trend does echo that seen in other jurisdictions internationally where moves to tighten regulation in the legal market has driven customers away.

The BHA’s Acting Chief Executive Brant Dunshea said:

“From the outset of the Gambling Act Review, British racing has repeatedly warned of the unintended consequences of well-meaning policy decisions on our sport, including the threat of inadvertently growing illegal market activity.

This study certainly demonstrates that very concerning threat becoming reality.

For every racing customer that leaves the legal market for the illegal one, they are putting themselves at increased risk with lessened consumer rights and protections. Unlicensed operators also make no financial contribution to the ecosystem of British racing or the Exchequer.

While noting increased enforcement action in recent months by the Commission, we will be sharing these findings with Government and hope it will work with us to encourage bettors to stay in the legal market given this growing leakage.

The study serves as a further reminder of why it’s important for gambling regulations to be both balanced and proportionate, with those who are betting safely on racing allowed to do so without interruption.”