Why Your Office Needs to Reject Grand National Sweepstakes
This year, the British public will bet an estimated £500 million on annual horse-racing event the Grand National. Many of those bets will be placed as part of office sweepstakes, or a so-called “harmless flutter”, by people who would never usually put money on the horses the rest of the year.
But often they don’t realise that they’re actually gambling on animals’ lives – and supporting an industry that treats horses as disposable commodities. Every year, horses die on the track after terrifying, bone-splintering falls. And in the wider industry, retired racers or horses who can’t run fast enough are abandoned, neglected or sent to be killed for meat.
Not wanting to ruin the feel-good factor, racing commentators on the TV and radio often choose not to mention the sport’s many casualties – the horses who fall down and never get up again.
As long as there’s money to be made for bookies, trainers and jockeys, this cruel “sport” will continue – and horses will continue to die.
Ahead of this year’s event, please don’t place any bets on the Grand National or take part in office sweepstakes. Instead, please urge ITV to stop broadcasting the Grand National.
