Gambling Minister Merry-Go-Round: Why UK Horseracing Could Pay the Price

British horseracing's finances run on a levy most fans never think about, and a ministerial post most people couldn't name. Both are currently in flux at the same time. 

With Baroness Twycross's future in the UK's gambling brief unconfirmed, and the Gambling Commission's Financial Risk Assessments beginning to reshape how high-value bettors are checked, racing finds itself watching two separate stories that could combine to hit its funding model from an angle few outside the sport are currently tracking.

An Unfamiliar Question Mark 

As announced earlier this week, Twycross is set to retain her position at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, but the department has not confirmed whether she will continue holding the gambling brief specifically^[1]. 

It's a small but notable detail, given Twycross has now served longer in the role than any of her six predecessors combined tenure-for-tenure since the post was formalised in 2020.

Seven Jockeys, One Saddle

Nigel Huddleston held the gambling brief from 2018 until March 2021, when he was replaced by John Whittingdale, who served roughly six months before Chris Philp took over in September 2021. Philp resigned within the year, protesting Boris Johnson's leadership during the Partygate fallout, with the Gambling Act white paper reportedly already sitting with the Prime Minister at the time. Damian Collins followed for three months, Paul Scully for four, and Stuart Andrew for the longest stretch of the six at seventeen months.

All six were Conservative appointments, cycling through under three different Prime Ministers within a single parliament. The average tenure across those six completed terms was under nine months.

Twycross took over in July 2024 under the incoming Labour government, becoming the first non-Conservative minister to hold the brief in this period. 

Reform has moved slowly regardless of who's held the post. 

The Gambling Commission has only now committed to publishing the full evidence and methodology behind its Financial Risk Assessment rollout this Autumn, following questions from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on why that evidence wasn't published alongside the original decision. Loot boxes and further advertising reform remain unresolved several ministerial terms into a review process that began in 2020.

The Sport Betting Its Prize Money on the Rules Being Right

Unlike most sports like football, darts, or snooker, British racing's prize money isn't funded through broadcast deals or ticket sales, but via a statutory levy on bookmakers' profits from bets placed on racing. 

That structural dependence puts racing in a different position to most sports when it comes to gambling policy, and it's a position currently being tested by the FRA rollout.

The British Horseracing Authority has raised concerns that Financial Risk Assessments could push high-spending punters toward unlicensed operators. 

Racing stakeholders are not included in the FRA implementation groups shaping the rollout, as those groups are reserved for parties directly involved in conducting the checks. 

The Gambling Commission's Acting Chief Executive Sarah Gardner has agreed to hold separate meetings with racing stakeholders instead^[2].

The Numbers Behind the Concern

Betting turnover per race fell 1.2% in 2025/26, following a 7.7% drop the year before, leaving turnover 9.2% below the three-year average and 19% below 2021/22 levels. 

Over the same period, the Horserace Betting Levy reached a record £108.9m in 2024/25.^[3] The levy is calculated on bookmakers' gross profit rather than turnover, meaning yield can rise even as underlying betting activity falls.

The levy funds £77.13m of 2026 prize money directly, a 6% increase on 2025. 

The government confirmed in March that it will not change how the levy is calculated, despite calls from racing for a review.

Reading the Levy's Warning Signs

Taken together, the figures point to a widening gap between what the levy shows and what's actually happening underneath it. 

Turnover per race has fallen in each of the last two years, yet the levy itself hit a record high over the same period, a divergence that's only possible while enough high-value betting activity remains in the regulated market to sustain bookmaker margins. 

If FRAs reduce that activity further, the same calculation method that produced a record levy in 2024/25 could just as easily produce a falling one in the years ahead, with prize money the most direct casualty. 

The Gambling Commission's Autumn evidence publication and any decision on Twycross's future role are both likely to shape how, and how quickly, that risk plays out.