One decade on from the historic Brexit referendum and I’d still vote to leave all over again.
Only British people should govern the United Kingdom, not unelected bureaucrats in Brussels.
Unless it’s a national emergency there shouldn’t be a PM that hasn’t been democratically elected. If there is a succession due to death or illness then there should be a time limit on how long they can remain in office before a GE is called.
As a precedent this could not be more dangerous. There'll be whingers begging for money back in every third race after this. It's a preposterous decision. Horses endure good luck and bad luck, as do punters. Sometimes that happens in a big race. This decision was made because it's World Pool and maybe in HK the rules are different. But these are our rules, not theirs. This is our race, not theirs.
Frictionless checks. The buzzword of recent weeks. It has been clear for many years that the levels of incompetence within those deciding the fate of the gambling industry, knows no bounds. They simply aren't fit for purpose and will not stop until this industry is finished.
Tomorrow will be a sad day for me as I think it will be the start of wrapping up the bigger betting stuff I put through Betfair. I was fortunate enough to have what was known as a Master Account. What it enabled me to do was put different sports and different strategies through different accounts. Also an account for pre off betting or in running. It meant you had the flexibility to separate things more sensibly. It also meant you could park some funds elsewhere within the account without risking it all especially if using automated strategies.
At various times in the last 15 years up to about 95% of what I was doing was going through Betfair. It depended on what I was doing. Other times it was a fair bit lower. That number has been falling significantly in recent years for a variety of reasons. Mainly liquidity. What is without question though is that Betfair is only headed in one direction and it's not positive.
The Master Account and all the various sub accounts will be going tomorrow I believe. The hope is it will just be replaced by a standard account although I have little faith it will go smoothly.
The reason it is going is that I have just had enough. I have always bent over backwards to accommodate all the stupid, ridiculous requests. All the bank statements, other proof of wealth statements etc etc. The justification for why a Master Account was needed. Every single year.
It really started in February this year when I got a phone call from an account manager. He was like I see the account is down in January. Yes I said. January was the worst month I have had in over seven years. It happens. I was told well if this carries on then I am not sure you can keep having a Master account. Err really. Ok. I said I will make a couple of tweaks with how I do things if it is quite so important to you. i.e taking on maybe slightly less risk.
I was asked to talk about what trading strategies I was using. Whether I bet full time. Other incomes? What other proof of betting winnings I had etc. Some pretty personal questions but I didn't want any issues so i provided what was necessary. To say it was a massive overreach would be an understatement. We would review in a years time.
We had a brief chat about liquidity and how it had a fallen off a cliff in certain sports. Cricket has never been better I was told. Well I don't bet much on cricket so that's helpful. Is Betfair doing anything to address the falling liquidity? Nope. One worry with falling liquidity is rapidly diminishing returns. Less volume matched and lower margins is an ugly combination.
February/March both winning months. April a losing month. Just the way these things are in this game. Particularly when using different platforms. I get an abrupt email from Betfair in May saying that compliance wanted five different things including bank statements, another MSA declaration form, further commentary around my BF activity (i.e strategies), reasoning for my variance and proof of other betting outlets being profitable. If I didn't provide these things within two weeks the account would be suspended.
My focus has been shifting away from Betfair anyway and I think this was the final push. I simply said bollocks to this. Enough is enough. I spoke to my account manager and the first question I asked was why is this happening now given we spoke about it three months ago and you said we would review at a later date. He said I am sure I spoke to you last year about it. Err nope. Just incompetence that gets your back up from the get go. Anyway I said enough is enough. Unless you are willing to accept the P/L on the account as a source of funds then we are done.
We then had a brief conversation about what is asked from Betfair by the regulators. He said yes we probably overreach but we just want to protect ourselves. That there in a nutshell is why this industry is absolutely screwed. No one knows what is needed and the shifting of blame has to be seen to be believed. The guidance from all concerned pathetic.
The account itself is up seven figures after commission. The account has also paid the best part of £1m in commission to Betfair. The accounts will have placed well over £100m of bets through Betfair. The January loss was for less than 1% of the P/L on the account. Yes that's right. Less than 1%. They won't accept an account P/L as a source of proof of funds/wealth.
The worry for Betfair is that there will be so many other stories like mine out there. Every time Betfair loses people pumping in seven figures+ a year, the liquidity just keeps falling. More people keep leaving and the situation is ultimately terminal. I hope to still use the normal Betfair account but I will be making a conscious effort not to put my business their way.
It has felt like this has been coming for some time and that is why you have to constantly adapt if you want to stay in this game.
Affordability Checks - Imagine at the point of sale when buying a gold bracelet or a Rolex, or a high end meal at a restaurant, or your fourth pint on a night out, being asked for your bank details and proof of income. It’s all bollocks isn’t it. Why have we stood for it so long?
An amazing achievement for a brilliant cause! 👏
Fresh from completing the London Marathon in aid of @SandsUK, Chester Williams joined the channel to discuss Mental Health in racing...
So ‘squatting Starmer’ is pushing through Digital ID in the King’s Speech.
Yet another horrific policy that was NOT in Labour’s manifesto.
He has no mandate for this.
Reform will SCRAP Digital ID.