There’s a logic to British racing’s bitterness at the prospect of so-called affordability checks being imposed on punters. But it coexists with a faulty presumption that the wider world should give a damn, which makes tipping the balance of public opinion in its favour a difficult task. That’s because racing’s essential self-interest, both in Britain and in Ireland, boils down to getting more people to bet more with gambling corporations. The levy that finances cross-channel racing comes from taxation on bookmaker gross profits. The basic calculation is that the better gambling firms do the better British racing does.For years the sport was happy with that. When gambling legislation was relaxed, and internet betting transformed the industry, turning it into little more than a digital free-for-all, rare were the voices pointing to disgusting exploitation of vulnerable problem gamblers for profit. Racing had skin in the game. The bitter reality now is that racing finds itself caught in the backwash of belated legislative attempts to curb the betting business’ brutal bottom-line instincts. But passing itself off as some unwitting victim is a stretch that smacks of having your cake and eating it. The UK’s government-appointed Gambling Commission is pushing ahead with financial risk assessments. They boil down to punters having to supply records such as bank statements to confirm they can afford to bet – and aren’t problem gamblers – after they reach a certain threshold level of expenditure. The theory is it will help gambling addicts. The reality is such a move will probably have minimal impact on those needing maximum help. It can be represented as little more than gesture legislation of a kind that will leave the vulnerable switching to a rapidly increasing black market where even fig leaves of protection are superfluous. Most punters are unlikely to be affected by a threshold where affordability checks kick in if a punter deposits a grand with a firm in 24 hours or three grand in a rolling 90-day period. But it will affect serious or professional gamblers and understandably they don’t want to supply bookies with financial information. They’re the ones who contribute significantly to turnover. Bookmaker stalls during ladies day at Epsom. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA These thresholds have been in the pipeline for some time during which betting on racing with licensed firms has nosedived anyway. There are multiple reasons for that. There is also considerable evidence that black market gambling has increased in the digital badlands.But racing’s position is a hard sell. These checks look flawed in relation to what the Gambling Commission says is its priority to help those in trouble. However, bookies aren’t at the bottom of the handicap in any pantheon of “baddies” in the public consciousness. Crying foul due to any attempt, however ham fisted, to stop them profiteering risks looking ridiculous to the wider world, the one that politicians are tuned into. It can’t be coincidence that British racing’s pleas have largely fallen on deaf ears in the corridors of power.Those pleas have centred around the prospect of British racing’s funding dropping £250 million (€295 million) in five years if these checks fully go ahead. In all, 85,000 direct or indirect jobs are involved. The sector is unlikely to undersell such figures, but the potential impact is significant.Betting via the internet during race day at Hoppegarten, Berlin. File image. Photograph: Jan-Philipp Burmann/Getty However, it seems there’s little official appetite to appreciate how, in the urge to curb gambling firms, racing could be a somewhat witting victim. There’s a cost to racing in this county, too. Media rights sales are worth in the region of €47 million a year to Irish racing. It’s mainly a cross-channel market. Fewer people watching or betting on the sport reduces the value of those rights.The new Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland is no doubt keenly watching what’s happening across the Irish Sea. It also faces having to put manners on a gambling industry that profited massively for years in a basically wild-west market. Any hope that these firms might’ve acted decently by themselves was deluded. The outcome is that regulation is required to police them. You can argue about the how, but popular opposition to the why is all but non-existent.It means racing’s options are limited. Its finances are intrinsically tied up with betting, but a reputational smell goes with that. Public policy increasingly leans towards stigmatising gambling, a priggish trend but there just the same. British racing also doesn’t have the financial state safety net its equivalent here enjoys. Television screens display horse racing results inside a betting shop. File image. Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Neither does racing help itself sometimes. Pitching gambling as a primal human instinct is an acknowledgment of reality. But pitching it as some health benefit into the bargain really is overegging it. There are plenty other primal human impulses; no one pretends these are as inherently good for you as a long walk.The sport is on surer ground when arguing it risks being the victim of unintended consequences. Any instrument that tries to curb problem-gambling, no matter how blunt, is tough to argue against in the court of public opinion. Racing has a valid point, but it has ended up looking like its fighting the bookies’ fight – and who gives a damn about them?Something for the Weekend Godolphin will hope Tribal Queen (3.05) can live up to her pedigree in Saturday’s Aphrodite Stakes at Newmarket. It will be just the Frankel filly’s second start, but her half-sister won this a year ago with only two races under her belt. Trainer Charlie Appleby is back in form, and he also has Fashion’s Fancy who had the selection behind her at Haydock in May.Celeron (4.00) was drawn on the wrong side in Royal Ascot’s Windsor Castle Stakes, but lost all chance with a slow start. The course and distance winner is worth another shot at Curragh, Co Kildare, on Saturday. Oisin Murphy rides in a race that has thrown up classic winners for the last two years, but which might not be a vintage renewal this time.