Hewick

//AP Life // Gambling For a Living // All Views My Own

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

Kempton, December 26th 2023. 1/6 👑

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@quarterfirst4 🧢

[HQE @HorseQE]

https://t.co/3DMhptvVKi

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@BarstewardsThe @PuntingWinners Fun late night game

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@HorseRacingOnX @IAmGreyhoundGuy Never had an issue mate, though I had to use Betfair so did take small losses on occasion ….also took bigger odds on occasion - I’d say unlucky months I’d go within 5-10% of advised prices - a low no of Softbookies always lead to a tougher time but that’s to be expected

[Luke Paton @Golfpunter1]

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.

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@quarterfirst4

[Shark Hanlon Racing @jhanlonracing]

🐴 Hewick getting all the attention this morning at the annual kids morning at Gowran Park

@GowranPark1 | @RacingTV

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@quarterfirst4 Looks horrible on my bookmark tab list - I’ll survive but barely

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@bookiesdream0 Backing the obvious in a GB Sprint race?
- ive learnt my lesson, backing everything 30.0+ on exchanges all the way to the bank

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@sam_angelina22 @seanhanlon77 I look forward to the paddock and build up talk dedicated to each race….i don’t know the maths, but even if everything ran to exact schedule (goood luck with the first race being 2yo..) I bet you could dedicate less than 10s per horse per race before start time

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

What a day of racing, do we have an over / under running on the amount of split screens yet?
15minutes separating the first 4 races alone 🤠🤠

@seanhanlon77

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@bookiesdream0 Ryan Moore is Mustard.

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@quarterfirst4 WeWin ROI has taken down flutter

[Bookies Dream @bookiesdream0]

I couldn’t even possibly imagine listing all the ways this is a disaster for punters and Horse Racing

- exchanges gone
- racing’s funding fucked
- the whole industry in crumble
- anyone betting more than £20 a bet won’t be able to
- bookies margins even worse
- black market increase
- trainers/owners/staff gone
- nanny state
Etc etc etc

This is it. Nice knowing you all. See ya

[Colonel Braxton | WE WIN @quarterfirst4]

Pulse of Shanghai in 🇩🇪 this morning

A big shout out to @ZoeMcMullan17 for rehoming, together with @gk30972 - some combo they are.

Wonderful to these horses still healthy and active.

Pulse an ex 6f/1m horse loving life and doing bit of jumping 😍

@wewinracing 🤝 🟠⚫⚪

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@quarterfirst4 @HorseRacingPins @wewinracing @LZ_Racing180 Sensational work

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@quarterfirst4 heads in flat season for 3weeks now, I’d love them to mix it up and try moving to a different time of year - can always move it back for the rest of time if it’s turn out a bad idea. Sure big races I’m game for - but at this stage of year idc about 80% of the races on there

[Brian Arnold @heyarnoldb]

In Ireland that'd be 10,493 Hewicks

[Hewick @TeamHewick]

@tru3AP Looks like your recovering quickly haha!
Get that fuel in.