Hi all,
Inside today’s main piece you can ready my thoughts on why we are staring in the face of affordability checks. Plus, there’s a free tip from Sandown.
Affordability Checks: A Final Say
There are reasons why UK punters are staring in the face of affordability checks.
Nobody can deny that the UK gambling industry has been a fantastic success since its liberalisation in 2005. In 2008-09 gambling companies won from £8.36 billion customers, by 2015-16 that had risen to £13.8 billion.
For nearly 20 years due to a lack of regulation the gaming corporations operated in the ideal business environment. They could effectively ban any customers who showed signs they were winning at sports betting whilst at the same time exploiting the vulnerable.
It was a licence to print money.
The betting industry has had years to get its house in order. It didn’t and that’s why were in the situation we’re in with in regards affordability checks.
The industry knows who’s a winning punter is and who’s a losing one. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to restrict the winning ones.
The industry has had the tools to make gambling safer and just important fairer. They have just refused to do anything about it.
We’re all going to suffer because of these faceless corporations who only exist to feed the voracious appetites of their investors.
The era of self-regulation is coming to an end because the industry failed to make the changes required and not before time some will cogently argue.
Too little regulation
It’s hard to believe that multi billion pound industry has had such little regulation when you think about it.
An industry where you can have a handful of winning bets and the online bookmakers will restrict your account to pounds and pennies or even close you down. If you continually beat SP, you can guarantee you will be restricted.
Yet for some reason they don’t implement stake restriction of, say, 1-10p on slots and casino games once a certain amount is lost. They have the technology to use it for winners so why don’t they use it for losers.
Yet at the same these parasites have happily accepted endless amounts from losing punters. They have allowed you to deposit money no questions asked but when you try to withdraw larger amounts, they ask you for proof of income, etc.
Last week the Racing Post did a morning show on You Tube for Glorious Goodwood. Some of you may have watched it. It was sponsored by a bookmaker; I won’t mention the company as I don’t want to give them more free publicity.
Every morning on the show the PR Rep promoted the company’s free bet on the racing but also pointed out you could get £10 to bet on their casino. Allowing the bookmakers to blur the lines betting on skill based outcomes as horse racing and casino style gambling is why we’re in this situation. I expected better from racing’s trade paper.
It’s like a drinks company telling you there’s a free pint available for you at your local pub. It’s enticing people to bet on product they have little chance of winning. If drinks company’s, did it there would be an outcry. Yet these gaming corporations can do it daily.
They never had it so good
The industry has made its vast profits by not accepting bets on horse racing from people who win on a regular basis. Thus, people turning away people from the sport.
The industry never had it so good. It was able to shut down the winners and accept bets from the losers at the same time.
Much as I dislike the concept of affordability checks, I find it impossible to support Racing Post’s present campaign on the subject. Not just because they allowed a shameless plug for a casino product on a programme about horse racing. No, it’s been their previous lack of vigour to champion punters when it comes restrictions and account closures or a bookies minimum bet liability.
Have your say!
Where I do agree with them is on the need for punters to reply to the UKGC’s consultation. You might have already done so. If you haven’t, I urge you to have your say.
Look we probably won’t stop affordability checks they’re coming in some form whether we like it or not, but we must point out they should be used for those who are at risk of harm, not for everyone.
One idea mooted was that punters set their own loss limits per month, and they can’t go a penny over it. All punters even addicts expect to win, that’s the psychology of gambling, and would likely as not set a sensible limit. That seems an eminently sensible idea and treats people as grown adults not children.
The very is that punters expect to win, even a muppet punter or potential addict thinks they are going to win and would set a sensible (to them) amount relative to their circumstances.
We can’t blame the easy targets for our ire. The do gooders’, the ‘Woke’ or anti-gambling organisations (delete as applicable). The blame can be laid firmly at the feet of the betting industry and those who claim to be the punters friend.
Shergar Cup
Shergar Cup Day was once an opportunity during the flat season when I took a break away from the sport.
That all changed last year when I decided to give it a whirl and I enjoyed it from an entertainment perspective.
The Shergar Cup is a unique and distinctive competition that brings together jockeys from around the world to compete in a team format. The event takes its name from the famous racehorse “Shergar,” who won the Epsom Derby by a record 10 lengths in 1981.
Inaugurated in 1999 as a means of enhancing the appeal of horse racing and attracting a broader audience. The event is usually held on the first Saturday in August and consists of a series of six races, each with a varying format and distance, to test the skills of jockeys across different racing jurisdictions.
The distinctive feature of the Shergar Cup is the team-based competition. Jockeys are divided into four teams, each representing different regions: Great Britain and Ireland, Europe, Rest of the World, and the Ladies team, which is composed of female jockeys.
Points are awarded to teams based on their performance in each race, and the team with the highest cumulative points at the end of the day is declared the winner. There’s also a prize for the top performing individual jockey who is awarded the Siver Saddle.
The day aims to promote international camaraderie and competition and celebrate the diversity of the racing world. Much to my surprise, I have to say, it's maintained its popularity and the crowds still seem to turn out for it.
Shergar Cup 2023
This year’s Shergar Cup is back to the traditional six races after there being eight in 2022. Five of contests are Class 2 handicaps and one is a Class 3:
1:35 – Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Dash (Class 2) – 5f
2:10 – Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Stayers (Class 2) – 2m
2:45 – Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Challenge (Class 2) – 1m 4f
3:20 – Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Mile (Class 2) – 1m
3:55 – Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Classic – 1m 4f
4:30 – Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Sprint – 6f.
Trainers:
Andrew Balding, Roger Varian and William Haggas are the top performing trainers in terms of winners. I added Jessica Harrington because she had her first runners at the Shergar Cup last year and they finished first & second, I see she has three entries this year and I will be following them.
Yearly breakdown:
Both 2017 & 2021 provided zero winners, but the other four years have been profitable to both ISP & BFSP.
How will the four trainers fare this year?
Little Big Bear Retires
Last year’s champion juvenile Little Big Bear has been retired due to suffering a condylar fracture on the right front fetlock.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien told the Racing Post: “Little Big Bear is a super horse; that’s the long and the short of it. Different class, different gear and matured very early for a big horse. He’s big, scopey, strong, clear winded and very, very fast – a class sprinter.”
He was certainly a very mature juvenile who didn’t make the improvement from two to three and too my uneducated eye had inherited frailties.
What will he go on to breed? Let’s hope it’s not precocious juveniles who need over watered ground to overcome their genes.
Thursday Preview
The Racing League heads to Wales for the first time with Chepstow hosting the second leg of the team competition.
Its Day 2 of Brighton’s Summer Meeting. The Challenge Cup Handicap (4:00) is the feature race of a six race card on the Sussex coast. There are more fixtures at Nottingham, Yarmouth this afternoon and Salisbury, Sandown & Sligo this evening.
There are three that interest me today.
Nottingham
4:45 – Nine Elms gained a couple of C&D wins on soft ground (has won on a sounder surface) in April for his previous trainer. He ran well for his new yard when a 1 ½ length 3rd of 7 over C&D 20 days ago. The blinkers return today and given his excellent record at the course must be respected.
Sandown
7:15 – I’m not sure what to make of Defence Of Fort. He had looked a very useful prospect with plenty of scope for physical scope for improvement when winning on his juvenile debut at Ascot last year. Sadly, he hasn’t kicked on. Even a gelding operation doesn’t seem to have had the desired effect. His seasonal return when 7th of 11 in the valuable Silver Bowl Handicap at Haydock wasn’t devoid of promise. However, he was far to keen and finished last of 11 at Newmarket 20 days ago. Hopefully the fitting of the first time hood will help settle him better. He comes with plenty of risks attached but when it does finally click in his head, he’ll win a race like this. That said I would want double figures odds to get involved today.
8:15 – Grey Fox gained two wins last season and is now 3lb below his last winning mark. Ran well for a long way when 3rd of 5 at Epsom (1m 2f) three weeks ago. That was 2f too long for the 6-year-old who probably doesn’t want to go further than a stiff mile. His best form has come on good to firm so will want the ground to continue to dry out. If he does then I think he will give his backers a good run for their money.
Sandown
8:15 – Grey Fox – 11/1 @ Coral & Ladbrokes.
Good luck with your Thursday bets.
John
Hi John, I couldn’t agree more with your take on affordability checks. As one who has been banned or restricted by most bookmakers I have absolutely zero sympathy for bookmakers in this case. Yes they could have restricted the people who are constantly losing money in the same way that they restricted me. So bring on the affordability checks I say.