Racing’s ruling body is preparing to put its weight behind efforts begun in Asia to deal with the increasing problem posed by unregulated betting exchanges. Huge volumes of money are reckoned to flow through a handful of websites that bet on races around the world, including British meetings, but neither the odds nor sums traded are visible to outsiders and there is no way to establish who is placing the bets, typically staked by agents.

Such activity poses a twin danger to the sport. There is the obvious integrity threat that comes with a total lack of transparency. But such sites also undermine the sport’s income, since they make no financial contribution while taking business from bookmakers who have signed up to give a portion of their profits to racing.

Trainers and other industry insiders in Britain are in the habit of regarding Betfair, Betdaq and other exchanges as an integrity threat, because they allow customers to bet directly against one horse. But those businesses are regulated and have long had memoranda of understanding with racing’s regulators, which allow for sharing of information when suspicions arise.

Unregulated exchanges pose a much greater threat, outlined to the Guardian by Brant Dunshea, chief regulatory officer at the British Horseracing Authority.

“Over the past few years we’ve observed a decrease in the number of issues from the domestically based exchanges in relation to betting-related corruption issues,” Dunshea said. “And during that time we’ve also seen a quite rapid increase in the activity of unregulated betting platforms in south-east Asia and other parts of the world. There is significant activity through these unregulated platforms on our British product.

“Largely what we’re seeing is south-east Asia and the subcontinent. Sometimes it’s a little difficult to identify exactly where they’re operating out of. In effect they’re not even being regulated by their own governments. Individuals can’t engage directly with these platforms. They’ve set up a network of agents who are able to facilitate the bets, or aggregate them.

“If it’s not regulated, it’s a significant threat. But there’s also the commercial impact. I’m not suggesting every pound is bet in a corrupt way, but just think about the legitimate money from punters seeking better prices; it’s lost to the operators that are making a contribution to the industry.”

Dunshea’s fears are a restrained version of those expressed by Martin Purbrick, his opposite number at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, who has warned of a “tsunami of illegal betting” threatening the sport’s viability, with one site said to be turning over $50bn (£39.7bn) a year. The Asian Racing Federation set up a taskforce to explore and eventually tackle the problem, with Purbrick as chairman, and has established a link with law-enforcement bodies in Australia.

Officials in Europe are increasingly aware that while the threat originates from the Asia-Pacific region, its reach is global. They discussed the issue at a conference in Paris this autumn. Dunshea added: “The next phase of the taskforce’s work will be to broaden its reach and move beyond Asia-Pacific, looking up to the northern hemisphere.

“I’ve indicated that we’re prepared to take a lead up here on it and I’ve expressed an interest in joining the taskforce, potentially working collaboratively with it to build the picture and help develop international policy on how we can address the issues.”