[Derby] The death of horseracing in the UK - follow-up
Dear All
I'm deadly serious. The new legislation, if implemented, will at the very least, signal the end of horseracing in the UK as we know it. It is a very difficult subject to get your head around, so I will attempt to make one coherent point about betting on horseracing and its importance to keeping the show on the road:
Quote from the Chair of the British Horseracing Authority (they run racing in the UK):
"one per cent of accounts were responsible for 70 per cent of profits from customers who bet on horseracing".
In other words, people who bet big matter.
The proposals would enshrine in law a system where anyone who loses £1K in a day, or £2K in 90 days would be required to prove bank account staements etc to continue betting. There would be no guarantee that they would pass these checks or be allowed to continue betting at their current level of spend.
To use a concrete example, I have lost circa £40K on a turnover of circa £0.5M over the 43 years during which I have been keeping records. I have lost £2K in an hour on numerous occasions, not 90 days!
I would be labelled a "binge gambler" (their words, not mine) caught by these 'enhanced spending checks" and immediately be asked for bank account statements etc.
I'm in my sixties, careful, about sharing personal information with anyone I don't need to and, therefore, I would instantly refuse to provide the information (I am not alone in this view). My account would be closed.
All well and good, but I am not a big bettor.
What about the owner who wants to have £10K on his horse in a maiden because they know it is going ready to run for its life? Are they going to give the bookmakers information about their business, their shares, their bank accounts? Er, no.
So, where will they bet? They will bet with the black market.
Recall the quote above, these bettors matter. Horse racing in the UK relies on these people to bet big with licensed bookmakers who give a proportion of the profits (maybe, turnover in future) back to racing to fund prize money etc. In this scenario, racing receives not one penny.
I could go on....
Ever helpful
Dave
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I'm deadly serious. The new legislation, if implemented, will at the very least, signal the end of horseracing in the UK as we know it. It is a very difficult subject to get your head around, so I will attempt to make one coherent point about betting on horseracing and its importance to keeping the show on the road:
Quote from the Chair of the British Horseracing Authority (they run racing in the UK):
"one per cent of accounts were responsible for 70 per cent of profits from customers who bet on horseracing".
In other words, people who bet big matter.
The proposals would enshrine in law a system where anyone who loses £1K in a day, or £2K in 90 days would be required to prove bank account staements etc to continue betting. There would be no guarantee that they would pass these checks or be allowed to continue betting at their current level of spend.
To use a concrete example, I have lost circa £40K on a turnover of circa £0.5M over the 43 years during which I have been keeping records. I have lost £2K in an hour on numerous occasions, not 90 days!
I would be labelled a "binge gambler" (their words, not mine) caught by these 'enhanced spending checks" and immediately be asked for bank account statements etc.
I'm in my sixties, careful, about sharing personal information with anyone I don't need to and, therefore, I would instantly refuse to provide the information (I am not alone in this view). My account would be closed.
All well and good, but I am not a big bettor.
What about the owner who wants to have £10K on his horse in a maiden because they know it is going ready to run for its life? Are they going to give the bookmakers information about their business, their shares, their bank accounts? Er, no.
So, where will they bet? They will bet with the black market.
Recall the quote above, these bettors matter. Horse racing in the UK relies on these people to bet big with licensed bookmakers who give a proportion of the profits (maybe, turnover in future) back to racing to fund prize money etc. In this scenario, racing receives not one penny.
I could go on....
Ever helpful
Dave
_______________________________________________
Derby mailing list
Posting: Derby at lists.derbylist.com
Sub/Unsub: http://lists.derbylist.com/listinfo.cgi/derby-derbylist.com
