General Chat

[Quevega]

https://www.britishhorseracing.com/press_releases/galopin-des-champs-tops-anglo-irish-jumps-classifications-for-2023-24/

Links on this article to chase and hurdles 23/24 ratings

[Lobos]

Great post Q. As you allude to, the reason they've made the NHC, Turners and XCC Handicaps again is because Handicap chases are the only races the English can win on a regular basis at the Fez atm and the sad reason that 99% of my AP bets are on Irish horses. Not sure how long the Cheltenham Festival can keep going in it's current format. Think in 10 years we'll all be going over to Ireland to take in their Festivals after Cheltenham has died a death.

[Frankely My Dear]

Further on the current cheery tone Virgin decided to restrict my account yesterday for no apparent reason. They will have one but won't tell me, so I've complained. Anyone had any experience of complaining to Virgin about such actions?

I can envisage the end result but it takes the piss. I placed a losing bet on opening the account, used the free bets on Cheltenham and play their daily free games, from which I have won the grand total of £1. This appears to be the trigger for the account review. I placed the 2 free bets both on the Ryanair and also put a third bet on the Ryanair with my own money.

So winning a free quid and having 3 bets on a single Cheltenham race is my crime. Hardly impacting their profit margin yet they don't want me, presumably because I'm not losing money to them daily. Pricks

[Madmoose]

Further on the current cheery tone Virgin decided to restrict my account yesterday for no apparent reason. They will have one but won't tell me, so I've complained. Anyone had any experience of complaining to Virgin about such actions?

I can envisage the end result but it takes the piss. I placed a losing bet on opening the account, used the free bets on Cheltenham and play their daily free games, from which I have won the grand total of £1. This appears to be the trigger for the account review. I placed the 2 free bets both on the Ryanair and also put a third bet on the Ryanair with my own money.

So winning a free quid and having 3 bets on a single Cheltenham race is my crime. Hardly impacting their profit margin yet they don't want me, presumably because I'm not losing money to them daily. Pricks

They did it to me on two accounts the other year, restricting them within a couple of days for taking in a free bet offer and i didnt win anything, same with livescorebet

[Istabraq]

Further on the current cheery tone Virgin decided to restrict my account yesterday for no apparent reason. They will have one but won't tell me, so I've complained. Anyone had any experience of complaining to Virgin about such actions?

Standard behaviour.
Virgin was one of my more humurous restrictions/closures, opened an acc on a Saturday morning, deposited a grand, had four 50ew bets, no winners, two placed to give me a tiny profit, by 6pm that same evening I'd received three e-mails telling me:
1. BOG has been removed from my acc
2. I'm no longer eligible for promotions
3. Restrictions had been placed on my acc.

I don't know how much experience you've had with acc restrictions but there's no point asking the question, they'll say traders decision and they're not obliged to provide any explanation.

In a normal world we'd have a regulator to manage such behaviour and protect punters but the the shower of shit we have in the UK are so far up bookmakers arses the entire industry works for them.
Shops or the dark side is the future I'm afraid...

[Frankely My Dear]

Standard behaviour.
Virgin was one of my more humurous restrictions/closures, opened an acc on a Saturday morning, deposited a grand, had four 50ew bets, no winners, two placed to give me a tiny profit, by 6pm that same evening I'd received three e-mails telling me:
1. BOG has been removed from my acc
2. I'm no longer eligible for promotions
3. Restrictions had been placed on my acc.

I don't know how much experience you've had with acc restrictions but there's no point asking the question, they'll say traders decision and they're not obliged to provide any explanation.

In a normal world we'd have a regulator to manage such behaviour and protect punters but the the shower of shit we have in the UK are so far up bookmakers arses the entire industry works for them.
Shops or the dark side is the future I'm afraid...

Sky were the first to screw me because I placed all of their free bets on the Gold Cup and they didn't like that strategy. William Hill did it for me placing a few losing bets, don't think I even had any free bets with them. Never challenged either. Have done with Virgin just to see what they say, waste their time. Have a few unrestricted accounts left but I doubt that will last after March 25 so I'll frequent the shops after that

[Ice]

Standard behaviour.
Virgin was one of my more humurous restrictions/closures, opened an acc on a Saturday morning, deposited a grand, had four 50ew bets, no winners, two placed to give me a tiny profit, by 6pm that same evening I'd received three e-mails telling me:
1. BOG has been removed from my acc
2. I'm no longer eligible for promotions
3. Restrictions had been placed on my acc.

I don't know how much experience you've had with acc restrictions but there's no point asking the question, they'll say traders decision and they're not obliged to provide any explanation.

In a normal world we'd have a regulator to manage such behaviour and protect punters but the the shower of shit we have in the UK are so far up bookmakers arses the entire industry works for them.
Shops or the dark side is the future I'm afraid...

It does need something doing but like you say it's not going to happen, the bookmarking industry really does need a regulator to stop this sort of shit happening, it's a disgrace and they shouldn't be allowed to even call themselves bookmakers !

[ComplyOrDie]

Unfortunately to continuously overcome the issues of account restrictions and closures the only path that works is using willing family members names to open up new accounts.

Not ideal, admittedly, but it can work.

Bet365
Ladbrokes/Coral
Betfair

They are the only remaining bookmakers I have without restrictions, and also offers/bonuses are mostly available too.

I can still use some offers with William Hill and VirginBet, but these seem somewhat tailored to an area I don't want to part cash with.

Annoyingly, a very old self exclusion (from when I was 19/20, and not even a real reason to self exclude to be honest) on a SkyBet account led to me nearly losing my Betfair account, because it had flagged up as SkyBet are one of their sister companies. Luckily I managed to regain control though had to put a slight restriction on deposit limits, however I was told this could be adjusted after 1 year, which has now passed.

Shops & cash are the way forward, but obviously offer no cash out (not a problem if you're not used to it anyway), and also means holding on to betting slips long term, which can be a pain in the arse if you're not organised

[Yosser]

Unfortunately to continuously overcome the issues of account restrictions and closures the only path that works is using willing family members names to open up new accounts.

Not ideal, admittedly, but it can work.

Bet365
Ladbrokes/Coral
Betfair

They are the only remaining bookmakers I have without restrictions, and also offers/bonuses are mostly available too.

I can still use some offers with William Hill and VirginBet, but these seem somewhat tailored to an area I don't want to part cash with.

Annoyingly, a very old self exclusion (from when I was 19/20, and not even a real reason to self exclude to be honest) on a SkyBet account led to me nearly losing my Betfair account, because it had flagged up as SkyBet are one of their sister companies. Luckily I managed to regain control though had to put a slight restriction on deposit limits, however I was told this could be adjusted after 1 year, which has now passed.

Shops & cash are the way forward, but obviously offer no cash out (not a problem if you're not used to it anyway), and also means holding on to betting slips long term, which can be a pain in the arse if you're not organised

I've got a folder and on the inside is plastic wallets. My betting shop dockets all live in their correct races.

I'm just waiting for the day where one of my accounts gets shut before cheltenham, completely ruining the ante post book. That's why this season is the last. Either that or wait until closer to the time next year and rather than build books, do my bollocks on one big bet per race. I will never understand why the bookies think racing is irrelevant. But they are well on the way of making it obsolete. Ad restrictions coming into force in Ireland, bookies having a free hand to just shut and restrict accounts willy nilly. Nobody will ever be interested in regulating it. Betting on racing and racing in general will just be allowed to whittle away to nothing unless somebody steps in but that seems unlikely right now

[robith]

Hi all, been away on holiday and tbh interest in the sport atm is pretty low, but catching up and quite surprised at some of the reactions on here to the changes. The sport is becoming borderline uncompetitive which won't survive as a betting product, they make changes to do what lots of us complain about, and people are seemingly legit angry cos it will be harder antepost? Mad scenes.

I think the changes will make the BANC and the Arkle way more competitive which is only good for the festival as a spectacle

[HesTheOne]

I've got a folder and on the inside is plastic wallets. My betting shop dockets all live in their correct races.

I'm just waiting for the day where one of my accounts gets shut before cheltenham, completely ruining the ante post book. That's why this season is the last. Either that or wait until closer to the time next year and rather than build books, do my bollocks on one big bet per race. I will never understand why the bookies think racing is irrelevant. But they are well on the way of making it obsolete. Ad restrictions coming into force in Ireland, bookies having a free hand to just shut and restrict accounts willy nilly. Nobody will ever be interested in regulating it. Betting on racing and racing in general will just be allowed to whittle away to nothing unless somebody steps in but that seems unlikely right now

Yea agreed. Not sure if many listen to the AK podcast (bit of a pessimistic cunt at times) but he was saying yesterday it costs about 6 or 7c to take a bet in Ireland with the overheads involved in racing.

Changing legislation and public opinion, dwindling population of good horses and fragmented power struggles .. racing unfortunately is doomed to die

I think the only thing that can save it now is complete consolidation/centralisation of power. Way too many factions from the BHA, JockeyClub, Bookies, Race Courses, Media they all worry about their own bottom line and pull in different directions for it to ever turn the tide.

Only thing that could save it would be a sovereign wealth fund to take over the whole fkn thing and run it

[robith]

Been away so don't know if anyone has already flagged it but the legendary GaultStats is winding it up after the coming festival. Always donate to the fund, gotten many a winner from his trends over the years

[Frankely My Dear]

Unfortunately to continuously overcome the issues of account restrictions and closures the only path that works is using willing family members names to open up new accounts.

Not ideal, admittedly, but it can work.

Bet365
Ladbrokes/Coral
Betfair

They are the only remaining bookmakers I have without restrictions, and also offers/bonuses are mostly available too.

I can still use some offers with William Hill and VirginBet, but these seem somewhat tailored to an area I don't want to part cash with.

Annoyingly, a very old self exclusion (from when I was 19/20, and not even a real reason to self exclude to be honest) on a SkyBet account led to me nearly losing my Betfair account, because it had flagged up as SkyBet are one of their sister companies. Luckily I managed to regain control though had to put a slight restriction on deposit limits, however I was told this could be adjusted after 1 year, which has now passed.

Shops & cash are the way forward, but obviously offer no cash out (not a problem if you're not used to it anyway), and also means holding on to betting slips long term, which can be a pain in the arse if you're not organised

I'm no longer arsed about cash out and my approach this year works then shops will work for me going forward. Hopefully my mate's woeful football bets on my account will keep it going

[Saxon Warrior]

Yea agreed. Not sure if many listen to the AK podcast (bit of a pessimistic cunt at times) but he was saying yesterday it costs about 6 or 7c to take a bet in Ireland with the overheads involved in racing.

Changing legislation and public opinion, dwindling population of good horses and fragmented power struggles .. racing unfortunately is doomed to die

I think the only thing that can save it now is complete consolidation/centralisation of power. Way too many factions from the BHA, JockeyClub, Bookies, Race Courses, Media they all worry about their own bottom line and pull in different directions for it to ever turn the tide.

Only thing that could save it would be a sovereign wealth fund to take over the whole fkn thing and run it

Definitely in a Doom Spiral, as betting/racing are reliant on each other and online bookmakers dont want "racing only" punters on their mostly cartoon casino sites

I take every year as it comes.

Expecting bookmakers in the end to all lose their licence to bet fixed odds on horse racing in GB and IRE and everything to go to Pari-Mutuel/Tote style betting.

Seems probably the only long term way to sustain the sport, and to lever it away from the cartoon casino sites, who restrict access to so many horse racing punters already.

.

[Yosser]

I've got a folder and on the inside is plastic wallets. My betting shop dockets all live in their correct races.

I'm just waiting for the day where one of my accounts gets shut before cheltenham, completely ruining the ante post book. That's why this season is the last. Either that or wait until closer to the time next year and rather than build books, do my bollocks on one big bet per race. I will never understand why the bookies think racing is irrelevant. But they are well on the way of making it obsolete. Ad restrictions coming into force in Ireland, bookies having a free hand to just shut and restrict accounts willy nilly. Nobody will ever be interested in regulating it. Betting on racing and racing in general will just be allowed to whittle away to nothing unless somebody steps in but that seems unlikely right now

Guess what has just happened to me. Wouldn't disclose financial details so bye bye 1 account. Down to my last one now. Cheltenham ante post partly decimated, breeders cup ante post - gone, King George bets - gone. Put a curse on myself there didnt I. Fortunately I keep track of what I have put on where so now I have the money back I am going to have to do some more shop bets. Its actually allows me to move some of the cheltenham money I wasn't that concerned about anymore onto others although I have lost quite a few nice prices but will claw that back. Breeders cup ante post I can claw back i think but the king George prices are long gone. Cheers government