Under starter's orders....

Last Updated: 12.02.2019

Tuesday, 12th February 2019

Under starter’s orders….

We’re back in business....

The BHA lifted the lockdown late last night and gave the green-light for racing to resume in Great Britain tomorrow....

We’re not out of the woods yet. We might not of heard the last of equine flu. It could rear its ugly head again....

But, for now at least, it is back to business as usual. And a good thing too, if you want my opinion....

We will, as per usual, wait for the weekend, before we get involved. And there will be a few races to shoot for the value in....

We’ve got the Grand National Trial up at Haydock Park. And Ascot will host this year’s renewal of the Betfair Hurdle (lost at Newbury last weekend)....

And there may be one or two other good targets too. We will see as the week unfolds....

Meanwhile, more good news....

  • Fit & proper....

We all know how it is with the bookies....

Open an account with them and they can’t encourage you swiftly enough to deposit money and start betting....

They don’t give a tinker’s cuss who you are. You could be a gun-runner, money-launderer, problem-gambler – it’s okay. All are welcome. Nobody is turned way....

Dirty or clean, your money is good with the bookie. Just get it on deposit and start betting. That’s all the bookie is interested in....

Until such time you win a few quid and want to get it back into your bank account. That’s when things change....

Then, the bookie is VERY interested in who you are....

That’s the time he wants to take all the long and painful steps required to verify your identity and establish whether you are a fit-and-proper person to be betting with the paragon of virtue that is your bookmaker....

  • Now jump through the hoops....

Fill in the forms. Provide all the right numbers and data. Provide cast-iron proof of address....

Fax copies of the relevant documents and paperwork. Send a photograph. Send a scan of your passport. Maybe supply a couple of references....

This Know Your Customer process is designed so that you can prove that you are who you say you are and that the money you have already deposited and bet with (maybe multiple times) comes from a legitimate source....

It sounds straight-forward. But it isn’t. Far from it....

The whole thing – thanks to the way bookmakers deal with it – is a a bureaucratic Alice-in-Wonderland dystopia that Franz Kafka might have been proud to have dreamt up....

It’s mind-numbingly detailed. It is overly complex. It is time-consuming. It is immensely irritating. And it is frequently frustrating to the point of mindless violence....

If the bookies thought they might get away with it, they would probably have it written into their T&Cs that customers must agree to undergo a colonoscopy prior to withdrawal of funds being sanctioned....

If you were trying to devise a way of raising blood pressure and bringing on a stroke, this Know Your Customer verification process put together by the bookmaking industry is a tough horse to pass....

And the bookmaker seems to spin the whole thing out unnecessarily – taking so much time to go through the process that you start to wish you’d never requested a withdrawal in the first place....

Which, of course,  is the point of the endless delaying tactics. The bookmaker is playing for time – like a goalkeeper repeatedly adjusting the position of the ball and then plucking the mud off his boots and kicking the posts before finally and begrudgingly winding up to take an 89th minute goal kick....

 The bookmaker wants you to gamble your money again – and to lose....

  • Change – a decade too late – but change....

But now things look set to change. And not a moment too soon....

The Know Your Customer processes – and all the very many negative consequences of them for punters – have been in place for years. At least 12 and probably 15-years....

It has taken the Gambling Commission all that time to rouse itself into action and to deal with the situation....

Like Old Puffer, the slow train to nowhere, the Gambling Commission inches and strains along the tracks and takes forever to get to where its passengers need to go – all the while hissing and clanking and whistling and blowing as though it were tearing up the very ground beneath its wheels....

All gas and wind and noise – but little end-product in the pot when all the blowing is done....

But now, after many years of turning a blind eye, sweeping the issue under the carpet and pulling the wool over our eyes, the Gambling Commission has finally acted. The behemoth has finally woken from its coma and made pronouncements from on-high....

From 7th May bookmakers will no longer be able to treat punters unfairly by asking for additional identity information when they attempt to withdraw winnings....

In other words, bookies will no longer be able to make inconvenience and hassle conditions of cashing-out....

Under the new rules, bookies will need to verify the name, address and date of birth of a customer before allowing them to gamble....

And they will need to ask for additional verification information promptly – informing punters at the very outset of the type of documentation that will be required....

At least that’s the theory. And in theory, it is good news for punters. But let’s see how it pans out in practice before we crack open the cigars....

  • This couldn’t happen....

I wonder why it is that bookies get away with actions and operational policies that other businesses would be crucified for....

And they don’t only get way with it. They milk such situations for years – with nobody seeming to make any effort whatsoever to bring the industry and individual operators to heel....

And when effort is made, it is often token effort or half-hearted effort or effort that fails to effectively address the issue....

I wonder why that is? I wonder what it is about these multi-billion-pound commercial concerns that enables them to capitalize on business practices and conduct that would not be tolerated in other industries....

Imagine this scenario, for example....

It is Friday night. Police have been called to a public house where a 16-year-old youth is flat-out and unconscious on the floor – smashed out of his tiny mind on booze....

He’s been in the bar caning the hard-stuff all night – and now he’s paying the price. He’s in such a state that he might have to be carted off to the hospital to have his stomach pumped....

One of the coppers draws the landlord to one side. ‘This is a 16-year-old boy,’ he says. ‘Didn’t you ask him to verify his age before you started serving him hard-liquor?’

‘I didn’t. That’s not our policy’ says the landlord. ‘We serve the drink first and ask questions later....’

‘No problem,’ says the copper....

  • Why do things take so long?

Can you imagine that happening?

Of course, not. The landlord would be bang in trouble for not taking the proper steps to establish the kid’s age before serving him with drink....

But it hasn’t been working the same way for bookies. For years – nearly 20 of them – the bookies have been accepting online bets from all and sundry without any meaningful obligation to verify age before bets are accepted....

Smart-ass 14-year-old kids with the determination to break the rules have been able to do so – thanks partly to the fact that the bookie hasn’t had to give a real toss about weeding the kids out....

The new rules will – apparently – take care of this. Age will have to be proven up-front. But why has it taken so many years to get to this point?

What is it about the bookmaking industry? What is it about our regulators?

Is the former too rich and too powerful and too able to extend influence over governance and regulation?

Or are the latter simply unfit for purpose and too weak-kneed or too lacking in will to get the job done swiftly and properly?  

I don’t know for sure. Maybe it’s a bit of both at work. Whatever it is, things need to change – quicker than they are doing....

  • The last word….

That’s all from me for today.

I’ll be back with more tomorrow.

Until then. Stay tuned.

Nick Pullen

Against the Crowd