Furore brewing over drones in horse racing industry

Unauthorised drones are in the news again, this time over UK horse racing courses.

According to various UK media reports, unauthorised drones have been reported to be flying over UK race courses and live-streaming footage of horse races to beat the average 3 second transmission time lag.

The UK’s largest racing group, Arena Racing Company (ARC), said it considers the unauthorised filming and broadcasting as theft.

The time lag is a controversial issue.  As some point out the drone broadcasts would provide live betting advantages to punters but would disadvantage racecourses who hire out their unused hospitality suites to in-running punters at a four-figure annual fee.

“Whilst frustrating, if the operator is not breaking the law there is limited further action that can be taken at this time,” the Racecourse Association said.

The flying of drones in unauthorised air space is an issue that made headlines recently when drone sightings were reported over the UK’s Gatwick Airport late December necessitating a 3-day airport shut down that delayed over 1,000 flights and affected over 140,000 passengers.

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