Saumarez Smith chaired Bede Gaming and the BHA and also served as a consultant in the sector.

UK.- Gaming and racing stakeholders have paid their respects after the death of Joe Saumarez Smith. The British Horseracing Association (BHA) announced that he died at home with his wife Wanda and their children. He was aged 53.

Saumarez Smith joined the BHA’s board in 2014 and became chairman in June 2022. He had planned to step down later in the year due to his diagnosis with lung cancer but stepped down at the end of January after being diagnosed with leptomeningeal metastases.

His career began via the Jockey Club graduate programme, which led to work as a racing journalist for titles including Racing Post, The Times, Financial Times and Bloomberg. He also became well-known as an investor and consultant in the gaming sector. He chaired Bede Gaming (acquired by Merkur in 2020) for over a decade from 2012 to 2023 and served as CEO of Sports Gaming and shareholder director of Eyas Gaming.

The BHA said Saumarez Smith was a “passionate and dedicated supporter” of horse racing and had “great diplomatic skills to promote racing at home and abroad”. It added: “He played a vital convening role in drawing the racing and betting industries closer together and was a welcome source of authoritative advice and guidance to the government, principally through his engagement with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport at both political and official levels.”

BHA acting chief executive Brant Dunshea said: “It has been a great privilege to have known and worked with Joe, always providing wise counsel and tremendous support to the BHA team and to me personally, and for that we will be forever grateful. His commitment to advocating Britain’s interests on the global stage was unwavering, and for that British racing owes him a huge debt of gratitude. We will miss him terribly”.

Interim BHA chair David Jones described Joe as “not just a personal friend to many of us but a great friend of racing”, adding: “Joe’s enthusiasm for the sport shone through in everything he did. He had such a deep knowledge of all aspects of the industry and I and other board colleagues will really miss his insight.”

Saumarez Smith had been nominated by the BHA for honours in the King’s birthday and New Year honours lists this year.