For those who saw the BBC’s Panorama investigation into British horseracing many will think twice about placing a bet on or off the racetrack, and this loss of consumer confidence is precisely what the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) wishes to avoid. As the programme said, a day at the races may be a great day out but the industry runs on the public betting on race results. The BBC was careful not to accuse particular jockeys of race fixing, apart from one where a telephone recording seems to show his involvement, but the viewer was left in little doubt that ‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’.

Globally horseracing and corruption seem to go hand-in-hand wherever the tracks are located. It can range from collusion between trainers or jockeys to horse doping to multi-million dollar scams. In places such as Hong Kong horseracing is still big business even though all surplus revenue goes to charity – the Hong Kong Jockey Club is the largest single tax payer and one of the largest employers in Hong Kong. Britain, Hong Kong, Australia, the USA and many other countries have catalogues of horseracing scandals - enough to make studying form seem an ineffectual way of making a winning wager.

In May this year a Senator requested that the California State Auditor investigates wager systems at tracks across the state and nation to determine the cost to California consumers and taxpayers after a ‘quick pick’ betting scandal. “Certainly hundreds, and potentially thousands, of California consumers may have been defrauded. We have no idea who knew what and when; how much this has cost Californians; how long this has been happening; and whether or not there may be any potential problems with the State Lottery, where millions of quick pick tickets are purchased each year.”

A report in yesterday’s Irish Times shows that it is not only scandals affecting the amounts wagered on horseracing. Betting figures are down at this year’s Galway Festival, proof, according to the newspaper, that the recession is starting to ‘nibble’. Wednesday's combined Tote and bookmaker betting figures were down around €800,000 on last year. The racing industry as a whole will be anxious that its battle to maintain profitability in an economic downturn is not impeded by onslaughts on its image as a properly regulated sport by further scandals that leave the betting public at a disadvantage. (E-08.01.08)

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