12th July 2017

Hi ,

Let me ask you a question, have you ever placed a winning bet with a bookmaker and then been told the bet was void and they refused to pay out?

Well Megan McCann a student from Belfast last year placed a bet with Bet365 which they are refusing to honour. She has issued a high court writ against them claiming she is owed over £1 million.

She staked almost £25,000 on twelve different horses on four races at Bath, two at Naas and the other at Kempton permed in 960 x £13 each way lucky 15 bets. The actual winnings come to £985,000 however Bet365 claim that Megan is in fragrant breach of the bookmakers terms and conditions as the bet was supplied by a third party.

In a letter from Bet365 they accused Megan of fraud and cheating which she very much denies. The rule that the firm are saying has been broken is in simplistic terms the one that says that the stake of all bets must be put up by the customer alone and not funded by others.

If this pathetic rule was upheld it means that if you put a fiver on the Grand National for a friend or you put a tenner on the winner of X Factor for your wife they would be deemed void bets. Now I play the lotteries in a massive syndicate where we get a payout most weeks and this would also mean syndicate betting was illegal.

The owners of Bet365 are Denise Coates who is the highest paid female business woman in the country last year earning £117.5 million and her father Peter who also owns Stoke City football club. Most of us will know the firm through their Ray Winstone adverts (have a punt on that). I bet they haven’t knocked Mr Winstone for his acting other wise a few heads would be rolling in the Potteries. While this dispute continues the bookmakers are saying they are continuing to further investigate the wager while retaining the stake.

Well my luck has been way off recently, nothing like Megan’s I might add with too many seconds and very few winners but every time I’m on a losing streak I think to Tom Segal (Pricewise) who had a losing run of 41 and Hugh Taylor who owned up to a losing run of over 50 which makes me think things are not that bad.

To try and get back on the winners I’m putting up a double for Howies Hottie today. The first leg Archangel Raphael 3.35 Lingfield and the second leg is Ask The Guru 6.10 Bath. I expect them both to be double figure prices and I will be staking as 2 x win singles plus the each way double.

HOT HANDICAPPERS

FLAT

Mutarakez trainer B.Meehan - Seems to be running into form and on a decent mark.

Stenrubin trainer P.Hobbs - Better known as a hurdler this gelding can win on the flat probably finding the trip too long last time.

Blakeney Point trainer R.Charlton - Stayed on strongly at Haydock and needs further than 12 furlongs.

Muntazah trainer O.Burrows - Running into form and worth following.

Back next Wednesday be lucky.

Howard Davis-Shaw.

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