As Vicky Foxcroft Named UK Gambling Minister, BHA Seeks Urgent Talks Over Affordability Checks

Vicky Foxcroft MP has taken over as the UK’s gambling minister, replacing Baroness Fiona Twycross following a reshuffle at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Foxcroft, the MP for Lewisham North, will also inherit responsibility for horseracing, and the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has already said it wants an urgent meeting with her to discuss affordability checks.

The move makes Foxcroft the ninth person to hold the UK gambling brief in six years, underscoring how frequently the portfolio has changed hands during a stretch marked by the 2023 Gambling White Paper reforms and ongoing disputes over how far financial risk checks should go. Her formal title is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Museums, Heritage, Gambling and Lords, and she will also chair the DCMS’s Illegal Gambling Task Force.

BHA Wants Answers on Affordability Checks

The BHA’s push for a sit-down with Foxcroft comes just weeks after the Gambling Commission confirmed it will press ahead with implementing affordability checks, also known as financial risk assessments, in 2027. A BHA spokesperson said the organization looks forward to working with Foxcroft but wants to make sure she understands racing’s concerns “following last month’s announcement that the Gambling Commission will press ahead with implementing affordability checks in 2027.” The spokesperson added that the BHA “will continue to engage with the ministerial team at the DCMS to champion Britain’s second largest sport.”

Those checks have been the most contentious piece of the 2023 white paper. Once fully rolled out, operators will be required to review customers aged 25 and over who deposit more than £1,000 in a rolling 24-hour period or £3,000 over 90 days, with lower thresholds of £750 and £2,000 for bettors under 25. The first stage will apply to the largest operators once a customer hits a £5,000 net deposit within a rolling 24-hour window. The Betting and Gaming Council has estimated that as many as 120,000 people could eventually be asked to provide documents proving their financial position, though the Gambling Commission maintains the “vast majority of customers will never require a Financial Risk Assessment.”

The BHA has argued the policy risks driving bettors toward unregulated, offshore markets and has previously accused the government of handing off responsibility for the rollout to the Gambling Commission rather than owning the decision itself. Racing’s governing body has warned of “severe financial implications” for the sport, which relies heavily on betting turnover to fund prize money and the horserace betting levy.

A Minister With a Track Record on Advertising

Foxcroft’s appointment is notable given her past position on gambling advertising — she has publicly supported a ban on gambling ads during live sport broadcasts, a stance that puts her at odds with parts of the betting industry that rely heavily on in-play sponsorship and advertising deals. She joined the DCMS as a junior minister in July after Burnham became prime minister and previously served as a government whip from 2024 to 2025.

The Betting and Gaming Council has already welcomed her appointment, with chief executive Grainne Hurst congratulating Foxcroft and thanking Twycross for the “thoughtful, open and constructive way she engaged” with the industry during her tenure. Twycross had told racing and betting stakeholders at a parliamentary reception that any affordability checks needed to be “proportionate,” pointing to a Gambling Commission pilot testing whether the checks could be carried out in a “frictionless, near-instantaneous” way that wouldn’t disrupt the customer experience.

How Foxcroft balances her advertising stance with the industry’s continued push for that frictionless approach to affordability checks will be one of the first real tests of her time in the role. Racing’s leadership has previously described meetings with DCMS officials on this issue as tense, with BHA chair Joe Saumarez Smith saying “repeated warnings” from the sport about the checks had not been taken seriously enough.

What Comes Next

Racing bodies and bookmakers alike will be watching closely for Foxcroft’s first public comments on the affordability checks timeline, as well as any signal on where she stands regarding advertising restrictions now that she holds the brief herself rather than simply advocating from the backbenches. With the Gambling Commission’s 2027 implementation date already on the calendar, the new minister has limited runway to shape how the policy is finalized before it takes effect.

For now, the DCMS has not formally confirmed the appointment through an official announcement, though the BGC’s public welcome and Foxcroft’s new brief covering gambling and horseracing suggest the transition is effectively complete. Racing’s industry will be pressing for a meeting in the coming weeks, hoping to make an early impression on a minister whose in-tray already includes one of British racing’s most urgent regulatory battles. For bettors tracking how UK regulatory shifts may ripple into markets and product offerings, keeping an eye on futures odds and other betting markets remains a useful gauge of how operators are adjusting to the changing landscape.