Chris Fawcett
@chrisgambler247
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Following
2,617
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Gambler and Coder. Horse racing addict. My personal views. Co-founder of @SharpBettingGB
Hove, England
Joined December 2018
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Pinned Tweet
Many thanks to
@SimonNott
and
@StarSports_Bet
for inviting me to do this interview. Simon is a master interviewer and made it a thoroughly enjoyable experience talking about some of the golden era and the more recent betting landscape.
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Asking a gambler for their wife's bank statements to get paid out is disgraceful. What if you don't want to tell your wife you won? What if you wife doesn't want to show her husband them? Why does a faceless jobsworth at a betting company think they should get to see them?
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@RishiSunak
Can I have your permission to 'spend' more than £500 of my own money betting on horses?
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Here is
@MattHancock
explaining that affordability checks will increase not decrease gambling harm. We cannot just do this because we feel we have to do something.
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Petition to get affordability checks stopped is now at 30,000 on day 1.
Any trade bodies, racing journalists or bloggers sitting on the fence get involved and lets get this to 50k then 100k.
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This is getting more and more ridiculous by the day.
@GamRegGB
simply have to step in now. Otherwise what is the point of having a regulator issuing gambling licences? Can other firms in sector not help them out with rules? Its embarassing everyone.
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'He bet £2 on Personal Ambition which won at 3/1, £1 each way on Pinot Rouge, which won at 20/1 and his third bet was a non-runner.'
Account closed for this! If corp books are not willing to take £2 bets on racing then racing in even more trouble.
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In 2019 before affordability checks 72% of UK races traded over £500k on the Betfair win market.
So far in 2024 just 9% of UK races have achieve that.
In the same time monthly slots sessions have gone from 17,000,000 to 56,000,000.
Affordability checks hit wrong products.
🚨Affordability checks doing nothing to halt the rise of online slots last quarter year on year.
📈 🎰Total sessions +16%
📈 🎰Active users +11%
📈 🎰Profit +10%
📈 🎰Sessions >1 hour +8%
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Submiting bank statements, bank card images and multiple ids to an unnamed transient worker at a betting operator by unsecure email is surely only for the desperate?
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Every person that refuses to click 'yes' and comply with open banking access to allow betting operators to see their banking data will contribute to our long term freedoms.
If enough people refuse the concept will be scrapped. The power to stop the madness is in our hands.
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1/9 Total income to the British Horse Racing industry will drop between £147m and £321m directly due to the governments policy of affordability checks.
Full report 👇
a 🧵
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Congratulations to
@NevinTruesdale
and
@ThomasKerrRP
for uniting the racing industry and gamblers with a common mission for the first time in living memory and getting this done.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾
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The world has gone mad. £100 deposit limit imposed on an account £1m in profit (after commission) without affordability documentation.
Is this really necessary
@GamRegGB
and
@StuartAndrew
?
#binaffordabilitychecks
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More traded on Betfair in first over of the Super Over between USA and Pakistan than on the 2000 Guineas.
British Racing has a series problem. 6 balls of cricket more traded than a British Classic.
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Excellent from
@ConorMcGinn
here on affordability checks saying they are massive government overreach and infringement on the rights of the individual.
'in response to anecdote and to emotion'
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I don't know why
@racingblogger
gets so much stick. Racing needs new fans to survive. He is doing more to get young people into the game than anyone else as far I can see.
We saw the industry in all its glory yesterday. The man who has changed horse racing content Racing Blogger looking forlorn after his tip of El Fabiolo got beaten at 2/7. It’s ok though. He was pushing the horse in a double at Star Sports. No doubt getting a % of his followers
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3 reasons racing is well financed in Hong Kong and Australia.
✅️ Punters can get on (liquidity on tote and min bet laws)
✅️ Punters can bet as much of their own money as they want on selections.
✅️ Punters get paid winnings without friction.
Radical rethink needed in UK?
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25 years ago using bookmakers to bet on British racing.
👍 Polite with full names given
👍 Paid out in full without asking for more docs
👍 Did not restrict accounts after one or two bets beating SP.
👍 Open when they wanted to close you.
Where did it all go wrong?
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Congratulations on your $25k win yesterday
@racingblogger
As one of the biggest punters in the UK maybe you could promote British racing's petition to get rid of affordability checks. They must be a menace to your 5 figure bets.
That's what it feels like to win $25,000 on the post with Inspiral and Frankie...
#BC23
#BreedersCup
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🇦🇺 In Australia bookies have to lay a min bet of £1000 on at evens to any punter on metro racing
🇭🇰 In Hong Kong you get a 10% refund on any losing ticket over £1000
🇬🇧 In GB if you want to bet £1000 on a horse the state calls it 'binge gambling' & wants bank statements to bet
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Regular gamblers keep the show on the road. Without gamblers there would be no jobs for:
❌Gambling Companies
❌Gambling Commission
❌Gambling Minister
❌Gambling harm charities
❌Horse Racing
❌Horse Racing Journalists
Yet our views are not represented.
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'Affordability checks are not protecting the 'problem gambler'. Prohibition did not stop people drinking, it created bootlegging speakeasies and crime. If someone wants to drink or bet, they will find a way.'
John Gosden is correct.
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A reminder that
@StuartAndrew
promised punters last year frictionless affordability checks through credit reference agencies.
Being forced to allow bookmakers bank account access through BetBudget and other open banking tools is in no way frictionless, justifiable or acceptable.
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🚨 Finally released data from 2021 Gambling Commission survey suggests affordability checks were doomed from the start
1⃣ Only 14% would submit info for AF checks
2⃣ Only 9% very comfortable with CRA access for bookies
My analysis of the implications👇
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90,000 signatures against intrusive government affordability checks for gamblers to spend their own money.
10,000 to go.
Sign👇
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You cannot make alcohol 'safe' for alcoholics so why do some people think it is possible to make gambling 'safe' for gambling addicts?
Its an impossible task. Better to focus on treatment for those who need it and leave non-addicts to enjoy their drinking and gambling in peace.
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'Millions are on the brink of developing gambling addiction'
Where do the stats come from?
Can a £10 bet really affect a mortgage application?
💷 According to the Gambling Commission, 43% of the UK population gambles monthly, but it can have terrible consequences.
Financial expert Iona Bain explains how even a £10 bet on the Euros could affect a mortgage application. To watch this in full go to
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Here is
@MattHancock
making the case for splitting online gaming from online betting like horseracing.
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Looks like we could be entering the end game for racing. Open banking warning signs been there for a year and now it is black and white.
A thread of all the information
@bet365
asked a follower of mine for…
Back and forwards a dozen times and they kept asking for more and more just so he could bet his own money.
In the end he told them to get fucked
This can’t possibly the world we live in as punters? /1
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Albania vs Croatia takes priority on Itv1 over Royal Ascot. Unbelievable.
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1/6 Report 1 into the Gambling White Paper affordability checks is now out.
It looks at how different types of gamblers will be caught up in the £1k and £2k affordability checks. It appears that the biggest losers are likely to be unchecked.
a 🧵
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Double the number of people bet on Scratch cards every 4 weeks than bet on horseracing.
British Racing faces destruction due to affordability checks whilst gambling addicts can buy unlimited scratch cards using their credit cards because some of their losses go to 'good causes'.
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If the Gambling Commission are allowed to be selective about which of their own surveys they publish how can we trust anything they publish? It potentially gives them the power to keep asking questions until they get the answers they want and undermines the whole organisation.
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@BetGameCouncil
You do not speak for punters. The frictionless thing is totally impossible unless you think intrusive open banking is frictionless. Even then hundreds of thousands of accounts will need manual checks. No other industry has these checks. Oppose them.
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Restrict real racing fans that are unlikely to win in the long terms and replace them with people chasing a free £1 bet to get them onto slots.
The market for racing in the UK is broken.
Here it is folks
William Hill
Company valued at 2.2 billion
Offering a staggering £1 (one) free bet on the Grand National 🏇🏇🏇
If, that is, you 'opt in'
Dear God
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1K
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Trying to verify my identity with
@gamreggb
licenced 10bet so I could withdraw my money after my account was limited then suspended.
The skype call had to be done with my camera on and the operator's camera off. The operator refused to give their full name.
Take a listen 👇
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'Many of its users suffered life-changing losses, of five- and even six-figure sums, and relationships and families also fell apart under the strain.'
Where was the
@GamRegGB
in the Football Index case?
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'asked if "gambling businesses should be required to assess if gambling is affordable?", 9,411 of the 12,124 responses to the question, 77.62 per cent, said no.'
Absolute scandal that this information was withheld before the White Paper.
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If
@GamRegGB
did not regulate GB online gambling would everyone be better off?
Since the madness started in 2020s:
Affordability Checks 🤮
Slots 📈
Racing 📉
Restrictions 📈
Bookies confiscating funds 📈
Black market up 📈
Trust between operators and punters all time low 📈
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How does a young gambler get started in the game these days?
Back in the day you could beg, borrow or save up a few grand, deposit it in the exchange and crack on no questions asked. Those that made it carried on. Rest went back to employment wiser for the experience.
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In case anyone is in any doubt about the effect of affordability checks on British racing.
➡️Betfair Exchange is the tip of the spear for high volume gamblers.
➡️70% of racing GGY (and Levy) comes from 1% of accounts
📉Betfair GB/IRE win market volumes down 45% since late 2020
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'We propose that there should be a soft cap on gambling losses set at £100 per month . . . if someone wished to bet beyond that loss limit, they would be required to provide financial data to show that they can afford to do so'
Liberal from LibDems?
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Its really sad what has happened to a great idea.
In four years out of five between 2012 and 2016, more than 90 per cent of British races on the exchange had more than £500,000 traded on them in the win market; this year the total is less than ten per cent
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Kenny Alexander, former Chief Executive, GVC (Ladbrokes etc now Entain) over 4 years ago discussing affordability checks.
Is this where the concept of intrusive affordability checks using banking data was born?
Full Lords hearing video is, frankly, astonishing 👇
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Trump is now even money to win 2024 Presidential election. A few weeks ago he was 1.41. How long until Harris is outright favourite?
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Woken by twin 4 year old granddaughters at 6.30am asking to watch racing. Found recording.
No idea what they are saying (🇪🇸) but fairly sure they gambling on the race result. This is the joy Gambling Commission & anti-gambling industry likely to rob from future generations.
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200 times the governments limit for binge gambling in one bet. 2005 was the golden era. No Betfair premium charge and all the books on the planet were allowed to take British punters' bets. Proper competition. We could bet whatever we liked of our own money.
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As the betting exchanges get weaker and weaker I expect a lot more fun and games in the markets. The bookmakers will have to be on the look out and make their own prices. It is like being back in 2002 but things are going in the opposite direction.
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'British government's affordability checks plan rejected by racing's participants and fans after petition passes 100,000 signatures'
No one wants your checks
@lucyfrazermp
@StuartAndrew
. Wont help problem gamblers and will destory racing.
Rethink.
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There are 27 unnecessary deaths everyday due to alcohol. Government must:
1. Ban all alcohol advertising.
2.Bring health ids card to stop anyone with health issues buying alcohol.
3.Limit everyone from spending more than £100 a month alcohol.
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When asked on confidence in affordability checks helping the vulnerable
@carolynharris24
answer
'just because we don't have all the answers now does not mean we should not do anything...'
So we are risking racing just because we have to try 'something'?
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Consultation response to affordability checks finally done. Can read my response here:
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'The owner of Ladbrokes and Coral has agreed a deal with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to pay £585m after a bribery investigation.'
Still licenced here to take bets.
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First rule of gambling:
If you lose a bet payout.
Most of us learned this in the playground aged about 5. If you don't payout no one will bet with you again.
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Tried to bet £10 on
#GrandNational
favourite
✅
@WilliamHill
£10
✅
@Betfair
£10
❌
@Ladbrokes
£7.14
❌
@SkyBet
£6.67
❌
@Coral
£5
❌
@888sport
£1.70
❌
@BoyleSports
£0
❌
@paddypower
£0
Do they only take bets off known losers?
@GamRegGB
@GambleWithLives
@lucyfrazermp
@petajan
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Q1 traded volumes for Betfair Exchange for UK and Ireland pre-off win markets.
📉 down another 23% in last 12 months
📉 down 59% since unofficial affordability checks started in 2020.
Open banking not even started officially yet
👇
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What will you do for the 99% plus of population that bet with no issues at all and enjoy it? Will you protect them from facing intrusive state mandated checks on if they can 'afford' to bet with their own money?
If elected as the next MP for Shipley, I will not have a second or third job. I will also support campaigns like
@GambleWithLives
to ensure that gambling addiction does not ruin more lives.
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@GMandGetFucked
@bet365
This is absolutely insane. Who would give direct access to their bank account access to a betting company? The data alone is worth a fortune. A simple algo could work out a tailored marketing and restriction plan to make the most from each customer.
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@StuartAndrew
The checks need to go Stuart. They will not stop gambling addicts betting as the black market is waiting for people stopped by the checks.
Data is the new gold. All the checks will end up doing is giving betting operators more data on their users to exploit. Betting operator
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Latest annual data from
@GamRegGB
📈 🎰online slots up 8.6% to £3.22bn profit
📉 🏇online racing turnover down 8.3%
All entirely predictable. Affordability checks hurting higher variance racing whilst more addictive slots thrive. Policy failure.
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Betting exchanges down another 7.3% in the last year on
@GamRegGB
data.
Since affordability checks were hatched:
📈 more addictive slots up 37% (+£877m profit)
📉 betting exchanges down 27%
Total policy failure if reducing 'gambling harm' is the goal.
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@geoffbanksbet
If bank statements are obtained for regulatory reasons and then weaponised for private terms and conditions that is not a good look.
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I wont be betting online with a big corp bookmaker tomorrow on Grand National day.
🚫Say no open banking and intrusive affordability checks.
🚫Say no to any intrusive checks on winners when they they try to get their money out.
#StayAwayForToday
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'If these checks come in, the Government is essentially saying it will decide how people can spend their money. An MP’s job should always be to defend your liberty to spend your cash how you like.'
Totally correct
@MCYeeehaaa
Full story 👇
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Why does the lottery get a free pass in GB and in Ireland from gambling regulations that are set to destroy horse racing?
A brainless game of chance is fine but a game involving multiple layers of skill is somehow bad.
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The government failed to do an impact study on the Gambling White Paper. Pushing on with no meaningful checks on how it will effect racing industry and beyond. estimates it will cost racing £147m-£321m a year
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If you had told me in 2010 that the legacy of the Tory government would be punters having to show bookmakers a bank statement to bet their own money I would have laughed in your face.
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Estimates of media rights payments per track, attendance figures and prize money (1st 6)
(Media payment figures produced in good faith in the absence of any official figures)
They clearly show how absence of crowds leads to lower prize money regardless of media payments
🧵
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Abject failure by
@GamRegGB
.
Policies mean slots thrives whilst racing dies.
The fixation on 'affordability checks' without any scientific basis left door open for more addictive slots whilst they focused on attacking racing. Not fit for purpose.
?
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Absolutely brilliant attack on open banking companies, the Gambling Commission, bookmakers and government here from
@LydiaHislop
on the data grab for affordability, AML and KYC.
Wonderful to see the racing media fighting back for punters.
[from 17.37]
New
@C_Greenway_1
🏇
@CWilliamsRacing
- Kitty's Light
🏇
@EcurieReynier
- Facteur Cheval, from unrideable to Gr1 winner
🏇
@DaveOrd
- Capulet a KY Derby contender? (
@Timeform
)
🏇
@retro411
-
@1st_racing
/
@TheJockeyClub
🇭🇰 JA McGrath
Insight:
@LydiaHislop
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Affordability petition was widely pushed over the 3 days of
@CheltenhamRaces
and just under 1300 signatures added during that time. Do race goers care or understand the implications of the checks? Going to be hard to get final 14k signatures.
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Congratulations on your knighthood
@PhilipDaviesUK
.
Your finest hour defending gamblers' rights standing up to government, big corps and the regulator against intrusive affordability checks
👇
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Need to know your expenditures?
Can someone please wake me up when this madness stops.
Why should a betting operator have to decide if a customer can 'afford' to spend their own money? Meal out, holiday, shoes, booze, concert no problem. Gambling.. docs please. Its mad.
@betangel
@GamRegGB
@chrisgambler247
@CaanBerryTrader
@Betfair
@BetfairBarry
Someone make this make sense…
We’ve had your 3 payslips from the last 3 months but need your bank account to show your income. Don’t payslips do that?
Why would you need my bank statements Betfair?
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Now hit £20k. Well done everyone in racing for finally acting against the draconian government affordability checks for gamblers.
Keep spreading the word. Next stop 30k.
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At least 1,000,000 accounts will need to be checked twice yearly by bank statement submissions to check people can afford afford to spend their own money gambling. If 80% refuse to submit these intrusive details 800,000 of the biggest accounts exit
@GamRegGB
regulated market.
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Glad to say there is no mention of intrusive open banking in the pilot for financial risk checks announced today.
Respect to everyone who protested against its use and refused to comply.
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@willhewitt1010
The gambling world is going mad. If you are in profit how can you be suffering gambling 'harm'?
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Just 2,000 signatures needed on gambling affordability checks petition to send a strong message to
@andrewjonrhodes
@lucyfrazermp
and
@StuartAndrew
Keep signing 👇
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No deposits should allowed until all AML and 'affordability' checks have been done.
That way people can decide if they want to submit documents before the funds are tied up in a suspended account.
My son deposited £50 to
@BetfairRacing
next day returns to have a bet, account suspended! For £50 he now requires the following! His response “fuck that Dad only £50” now call me cynical but they are doing this to take hundreds if not thousands of small amounts knowing fully
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You dont speak for 22.5m punters
@BetGameCouncil
. If you spoke for punters you would oppose affordability checks on punters and data collection by betting companies.
As MPs prepare to return to Westminster at the start of a crucial election year, we look forward to giving a voice to the 22.5m punters who enjoy a regular bet, and to an industry that supports 110,000 jobs, contributes £7.1bn to the economy and generates £4.2bn in taxes. 🇬🇧
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People like
@racingblogger
are always going to divide opinion between the tweed traditionalists and those who like a decent bet. Personally I think all publicity is good publicity. Racing is all about the betting to me. Why hide it to appease the anti-gambling lobby?
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What is wrong with these companies? There is a time and a place for these ads. Are they not reading the room? Intrusive affordability checks on gamblers but fine to do this?
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If you are a gambling or racing fan do not watch this 11 minute interview with
@MCYeeehaaa
and
@StuartAndrew
. The cluelessness is shocking. Racing is walkling into the abyss because government does not understand the numbers or human nature.
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9
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Why does
@guardian
writer see it as a negative that some people over 65 like a bet? Studying horses and having a few bets surely keeps the brain active? Having a bet does not mean someone is an addict anymore than having odd glass of wine an alcoholic.
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@danielgoyal
Have to run the chart for longer Dan. Check out no lockdown Sweden against Norway, Finland and Australia who did. In the long run evens out.
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Interesting video by
@betangel
on the withholding of winnings by 32red. Need a change of system where betting operators collect all the information BEFORE gamblers deposit and bet.
Otherwise they can keep losers' loses and confiscate winners' winnings.
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Much shorter now. The thresholds going up so much it makes the checks pointless from a harm point of view. Once the pilot fails to add anything useful the whole idea will be quietly shelved. Common sense with prevail with as much face saving as possible by the architects.
I think it is now odds on the government are going to u-turn on gambling affordability checks.
They were not properly thought through.
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Oddschecker not even letting me see the Derby odds without paying.
Not good for racing. Why do people involved in the game not see the bigger picture?
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28.6 Betfair SP. Easy winner. City of Troy nowhere.
Value looks to be in Notable Speech tomorrow for the 2000 Guineas. 14/14.5 on Betfair at the moment. Cannot see Rosallion winning it.
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Snooping on bank accounts by bookmakers for affordability checks need to go as well. Government and corporations should have no right to decide what we can spend our own money on.
🚨Breaking: Mass bank spying powers BINNED as
#DataBill
gets scrapped
We've just won against the Government's plans to sneak in powers to spy on all of our bank accounts.
This is a huge win and a result of relentless campaigning
🔸170,000 of you signed our petition, and masses
125
1K
3K
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Another day, another fine. This time bet365 for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
Would you trust a company with AML failures with access to your bank account data?
Bet365 will pay £582,120 for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
The amount will be directed to socially responsible causes as part of the regulatory settlement with the Commission.
To read more, visit our website 💻
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The petition against affordability checks is still 6,620 signatures short of the 100k target.
It has been estimated checks will cost British Racing between £147m and £321m a year.
If you love racing, gambling and freedom sign and share
👇
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'Gambling harm' for the few should not destroy the financial privacy of eveyone else. My wife does not have access to my lifetime financial transaction history so why should I give it to faceless people at an international betting company to have a bet?
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'Betting is fundamentally different. The margin is not fixed, the odds can fluctuate and both staking patterns and swings of fortune from profit to loss can vary wildly from day to day or week to week.'
👏
@Greg_Wood_
finally a journalist gets it.
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10k signed in a few hours.
If you care about personal freedoms to spend your own money how you wish and the future of British horse racing keep signing to send the government a message.
1
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Letter in the post to
@andrewjonrhodes
, the CEO of
@GamRegGB
. I am hoping to get clarity on how he determines only 3% of accounts will face affordability checks amongst other things. Vital before replying to his consultation.
Read open letter here 👇
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4 of the 5 top stories in the Racing Post are behind a paywall.
Racing has no joined up thinking to promote the sport.
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