GBGB: The Body That Licenses Every UK Greyhound Race
Every result you read from Monmore Green — every finishing time, every starting price, every running comment — is produced under the regulatory authority of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain. GBGB is the governing body that licenses tracks, registers trainers and dogs, sets welfare standards, and publishes the data that allows the sport to be monitored and scrutinised. If greyhound racing in Britain has a constitution, GBGB wrote it. If there is a referee, GBGB is it.
The board’s role is sometimes misunderstood. GBGB is not a promoter. It does not stage races, sell tickets, or operate betting. It regulates the sport — licensing the venues and the people who participate, enforcing the rules of racing, overseeing welfare compliance, and publishing the injury and retirement data that has become the single most important metric in the public debate around greyhound racing. Currently, GBGB oversees 18 licensed stadiums across England and Wales, approximately 500 trainers, and around 6,000 greyhounds registered annually.
What GBGB Regulates: Tracks, Trainers, Vets and Data
GBGB’s regulatory remit covers four main areas. First, track standards — the physical condition of the racing circuit, the kennelling facilities, the veterinary provisions, and the safety equipment. Every licensed track is inspected regularly, and failure to meet standards can result in sanctions or the withdrawal of the racing licence. The inspections are conducted by GBGB’s team of regional regulatory veterinarians, who have the authority to require improvements, halt racing, or impose conditions on a track’s licence.
Second, trainer regulation. Every trainer operating at a GBGB-licensed track must hold a valid licence, which requires passing competency assessments, maintaining kennel standards, and complying with the rules of racing. The licensing regime covers everything from kennel size and hygiene to feeding protocols and the management of injured dogs. Trainers whose kennels fail inspections face licence suspension, and GBGB publishes disciplinary outcomes as part of its transparency commitments.
Third, veterinary oversight. GBGB mandates the presence of a qualified veterinarian at every licensed meeting. Pre-race and post-race examinations are compulsory — every dog is checked before it runs and after it finishes. Dogs that fail a pre-race examination are withdrawn from the card. Dogs that sustain injury during a race receive immediate veterinary attention, and the outcome is recorded in the data system that feeds into the annual injury reports. This veterinary framework is the mechanism through which welfare standards translate from policy documents into trackside practice. At Monmore, the veterinary presence is part of every meeting — BAGS afternoons and evening cards alike — and the data generated by those examinations contributes to the national picture that GBGB publishes annually.
Fourth, data management. GBGB collects, aggregates, and publishes data on every aspect of licensed racing: results, timings, injuries, retirements, fatalities, and kennel inspections. This data is the basis for both the sport’s internal management and the external scrutiny it faces from welfare organisations, politicians, and the media.
How Track and Trainer Licensing Works
A track seeking a GBGB licence must demonstrate compliance with a detailed set of standards covering the physical facility, the racing programme, the veterinary provision, and the welfare protocols. The standards are derived from the Five Welfare Domains model that underpins GBGB’s broader welfare strategy, and they are designed to be auditable — inspectors can measure compliance against specific, documented criteria rather than subjective impressions.
Trainer licensing follows a similar principle. Prospective trainers apply to GBGB, undergo a kennels inspection, and are assessed on their knowledge of greyhound care, training methods, and the rules of racing. Once licensed, trainers are subject to ongoing monitoring, including unannounced kennel visits and performance reviews. The licensing system is not a one-off hurdle — it is a continuous obligation, and trainers who fail to maintain standards risk losing the licence that allows them to operate. The system is designed to create accountability across the approximately 500 licensed trainers managing dogs at GBGB tracks, ensuring that the welfare standards set centrally are implemented at the kennel level where dogs spend most of their lives.
The relationship between GBGB and the tracks it licenses is regulatory, not commercial. GBGB does not profit from the racing it oversees. Its funding comes from the sport itself — through levies, registration fees, and contributions — which creates a structural tension: the body that regulates the sport is funded by the industry it regulates. Critics argue that this arrangement compromises independence. GBGB counters that UKAS accreditation and the involvement of independent board members provide the oversight necessary to maintain credibility.
Published Data: Injury Reports, Results and Calendars
GBGB’s data publication programme is the most visible expression of its regulatory function. The annual injury and retirement data release covers every licensed track, reporting the total number of starts, injuries, fatalities, and retirement outcomes for the year. The 2024 data showed an injury rate of 1.07% — the lowest on record — from 355,682 individual starts, and a successful retirement rate of 94%. GBGB chief executive Mark Bird noted that the initiatives introduced in recent years are now embedded across the sport, pointing to the data as evidence that the regulatory framework is producing measurable improvements.
Beyond the annual data release, GBGB publishes the racing calendar, the results of disciplinary proceedings, and updates on welfare policy. The results from every licensed meeting — including every Monmore card — flow through GBGB’s data infrastructure before reaching the form databases and bookmaker platforms that punters use. In this sense, GBGB is not just a regulator but a data custodian, responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the information that underpins the betting product. The data is publicly available through the GBGB website, and the decision to publish it in full — including the unflattering figures on fatalities and injuries — reflects a transparency commitment that distinguishes GBGB from some governing bodies in other sports.
For punters, GBGB’s role is mostly invisible. You do not think about the governing body when you check a Monmore result or place a bet on the next race. But the result you are reading was produced under GBGB regulation, the dog that ran was registered through GBGB’s system, the trainer holds a GBGB licence, and the welfare data that contextualises the sport’s safety record was collected and published by the same organisation. Understanding what GBGB does — and the limits of what it can do with its current funding model — is part of understanding the sport it governs.