[FName]
A Club to avoid?
There is always a discussion somewhere about perceived injustices in the betting world especially the bookmakers stinging us poor little punters. And matters will not have been helped by the recent high profile case brought by the BHA against trainer David Evans. The full details can be seen here but in essence he delayed information about one of his runners being withdrawn to achieve higher odds on a bet for another. It all back fired because not only did the horse lose but he was found guilty of conduct prejudicial to horse racing and fined just over £3,000.
But the case has raised wider issues as it turns out that Ladbrokes regularly give Evans better prices than you and I might achieve so the question is how many other cases like this occur regularly and thus skew the real market which many ordinary punters rely on to decide whether to place their bets. There seem to have been wider implications from the specific case too as the bookmakers adjusted prices after the withdrawal so that they ensured a 25p rule 4 deduction rather than 20p which most would have expected in the situation. Scholars far more learned than I are already highlighting the implications arising from the whole affair.
None of this would have happened a few years back when betting was considered a secondary affair and those participating had only themselves to blame if they lost money whether through fair means or foul. The industry was given a greater degree of respectability by the Blair government’s hasty attempt to raise more cash without appearing to raise taxes and it is only very recently that the punter has started to have a voice that people are listening to. You might even find some MPs who are prepared to champion the ordinary guy in this field now which is remarkable considering they were being warned off involvement earlier in this decade.
But the question of information availability will always be at the heart of matters and I – like many – would have no hesitation in placing a bet based on information that the world might not know. This seems to be the whole essence of the game and while my personal opportunities are very few and far between (I did find out what a superstar footballer had for breakfast before the world knew in 2009 but sadly there was no market) there are many services which have their main selling point as being an ability to access to insider information.
You don’t need me to point out the obvious flaw in the underlying argument and I have yet to find a service that is priced within the reach of the normal punter that is successful using such methods. But still they come and a few days ago I was asked by a member to look into a service called Stable Leak which is apparently making use of this sort of information.
Published by Ross Mihal of RM Club the marketing describes the service as “The Ultimate Insider Service” and claims that the author has found a way to access a list of horses that their yards consider bankers for a particular day yet retain decent odds. There is no proofing of performance and the results shown commence from 1st October 2017 and yet we are told people are liking the lifestyle of making and enjoying quiet profits and little luxuries etc etc. In other words the greed factor is being used to try to gain subscribers!
As the service is suggesting good profits at level staking to BSP I tried to obtain access for a review but was rebuffed with the advice that “we don’t really want to prove anything to anybody as we are a closed community with capped membership”. So unfortunately I will not be able to check out the credentials of this service but I did think the underlying premise merited investigation. My first port of call was a source within the Betfan Group who has extensive connections across the horse racing world – his reaction was initially unprintable (!) but he is unaware of any such information source and also asked why the service was being promoted if there is already a closed list. As he succinctly put it the refusal to review is very revealing.
I also spoke with an ex jockey who again is unaware of any such list.
I have looked at services from Ross Mihal over several years and in the past he has co-operated with reviewers. He offers services in the betting and forex markets and it is fair to say mention of his name usually brings a strong reaction. The last service I looked at was called Betfire Football and was not the success he claimed. He also apparently refused to honour a guarantee offered with that system.
As Groucho Marx once remarked “I would not want to join any club that would accept me as a member” and my advice to readers is to treat any offers from the RM Club with a great deal of caution. If you cannot independently verify the claims then give it a miss.
Please let me know if you have any experience of this latest service. Although the results are posted daily they are post event and so have no real value. It would be simple for them to be proofed to Racing Index which offers a free service for doing this.
As ever let me know if you want me to take a look at a service or a system. Before you lose any of your hard earned cash.
Peter Philipson
Editor
