News: British Horseracing Board (BHB) chairman Peter Savill is expected to warn MPs about the threat he believes betting exchanges pose to racing when he visits Westminster today to give evidence on the draft Gambling Bill.

Savill is one of several key figures from the racing world who will appear today before the Joint Committee of both Houses Of Parliament which is scrutinising the Bill. Also due to give evidence are representatives of the Association of British Bookmakers, the National Joint Pitch Council, National Trainers Federation, the Jockey Club, betting exchange monitoring service Racefax and Dublin-based exchange Betfair.

Savill intends to stress the BHB's view that betting exchanges pose a threat to the integrity of racing, and also that they are not competing on a level playing field against more traditional forms of bookmaking in terms of the way in which they are taxed.

His evidence will complement the BHB's written submission to the Joint Committee in December, which was published in full yesterday.

"The scale and international nature of betting exchanges represent an unprecedented and substantial threat to the integrity of racing," it reads.

"The number of reports of alleged irregular betting patterns, focused on losing horses, accelerate on an almost daily basis.

"Betting exchanges create the possibility that any unlicensed person can make substantial profits by the laying of a horse to lose."