Hello
First of all, my apologies for the long period since emailing – the underlying cause has been a hiccough with the results proofing system when Betfair arbitrarily decided to change the way they allow access to BSP results but omitted to advise users. We are working on correcting the missing results which will then allow the full picture to be seen again.
I have been a long time critic of the limited way in which punters can now view the BSP outcomes and the situation has not improved here. Timeform is the only place you can see the results if you were not following the race live and they seem to have a very laissez-faire attitude to publishing them. It now takes about an hour on a good day but quite often they are not available until well into the next day. To add insult to injury you have to register with Timeform to get the necessary access. Surely if Betfair allow you to have an account with them you should be able to access BSP results through their site? Do let me know if you have any thoughts on this topic.
But I have not been idle in the meantime and continue to add reviews for both services and software products many of which will be updated as soon as the full BSP results are available.
Bookmakers at it as usual
Many punters tell stories of the restrictions that they have been placed under by bookies and while initially you might consider this as a badge of honour reflecting your prowess you really need to see anything like this happening as a warning bell and take immediate steps to protect yourself from further inconvenience. There are suspicions that many bookies use underhand methods to check your betting history with others (the IESnare Software scandal is an example of this) and so taking steps to protect your accounts is essential.
I recently received an email from Unibet saying that they had taken over the Stan James book and that my existing Stan James account would cease and be transferred to Unibet. This did not worry me particularly because as far as I was concerned Stan James had closed my account in 2016. (I had managed to win £10 from them over 2 months when testing a scanner that offered arbitrage opportunities!).
But despite not apparently having an account with Stan James my details were passed to Unibet and I then received an email to say that I would no longer be permitted any bonus offers from Unibet – the reason was given as because of my Stan James situation. This has to be morally wrong – not that bookmakers are remotely concerned with morals of course. It is no great hardship to me personally but the principle stinks.
And problems with other popular services
And while we are talking about principles I am sure many of you use Facebook not only directly but as a way of logging in to other accounts. Recent events have shown how little care is being taken of your data by Facebook and this article says it all to my mind. If you don’t have a Facebook account – well done and don’t be tempted. If you do consider closing it sooner rather than later.
And don’t think the problem is limited to Facebook – chances are many more are either directly or indirectly passing data to places you would be horrified about if you knew.
Please help to rein in FOBT stakes
Another bookmaker scandal has been the proliferation of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals which many consider to be the major cause of problem gambling in the UK. The calls for limits to be enforced on the use and staking levels of these machines have been met with some success but the recent announcement from the Gambling Commission recommending a limit of up to £30 has been greeted as a positive move by the bookmakers – this alone should be enough to demonstrate that this top figure is too high and it is imperative to keep up the pressure on politicians. I urge you all to write to your MP asking what his or her stance is on the issue and stressing that a much lower figure is needed to allow any chance of reduction in the problem gambling situation. You can easily email MPs – just check here to find the address for yours.
How was it for you?
Hopefully you had a good experience with the Cheltenham Festival and managed to ignore the higher than usual volume of tipster offers from people you had never heard of. Times like this show how little regard the marketing mafia have for the email regulations – when you get invitations from sources that should not have your email address always report them as spam. If enough do this the initiators will get blacklisted by the email service providers and we will all be saved more dubious offers.
This along with the inclement weather recently have also afforded an opportunity to find out whether your tipster service(s) are on the ball. The good ones will have been restricting their betting or delaying until the ground conditions are clearer as well as explaining their stance to their clients. The poor ones will have carried on as if nothing is happening and by doing so demonstrate their lack of concern for their clients and their cash. I saw one sending out tips for a meeting that had been cancelled much earlier in the day and another sending them out saying he didn’t know whether the meet was on but here they are anyway. Big black marks for both as far as I am concerned.
Self Help for Punters
Over on the review front I have just started looking at a couple of Betting Tools – one of which is designed to give you the best betting options for trebles where the matches have 3 possible outcomes. The other is a horse race ratings software that will allow you to analyse races against defined criteria and so consider your bets – or check before the race if your tipster is sending dogs rather than racehorses.
And finally, I stumbled across some film of early races from Frankie and AP which also has a masterclass on how to run between the wickets from Geoffrey – enjoy!
Until the next time take care
Peter Philipson
Editor
