Joe Saumarez Smith

Joe is CEO of Sports Gaming Limited, a London-based management consultancy to the gaming industry, and has for the past 20 years plus advised and worked closely with lotteries, governments, investment banks and operating companies on strategy, operational restructuring, finance and merger and acquisition.

He is also chairman of Bede Gaming, a leading technology supplier to operators and lotteries which is based in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission and other international regulatory bodies. He also chairs Eyas Gaming, a joint venture with Gauselmann Group, focussed on the recently regulated German gaming market.

Joe is the Chair of British racing’s Gambling Strategy Group and has played a prominent role in matters relating to betting and the Levy. He also sits as a BHA representative on the Board of Racing Digital, which is leading the digital transformation of the sport.

An alumnus of the Jockey Club Graduate Programme in 1991, he has been an avid follower of the horseracing industry since the age of eight and has visited more than 200 tracks around the world. He has written extensively about horseracing and gambling for a variety of publications and has owned shares in more than 80 horses. He currently has horses in training with Ralph Beckett, Martin Keighley, Joseph O’Brien, Stuart Williams and Tim Vaughan.