guinness2dear
19 Apr 12 11:55 Joined: 19 Jan 07 | Topic/replies: 6,539 | Blogger: guinness2dear's blog
Well as they are no longer covering Racing, it's a mute point..

Perhaps, but this sort of product placement is becoming more commonplace on the BBC and needs to be stamped out.  Don't forget we still have the Derby meeting and Royal Ascot coming up and as many punters can't get a £20 bet on with these firms this pathetic and distasteful practice needs to stop before then.

Agree with RUK, considering it is a subscription channel their constant toadying toward nearly all the bookmaker reps is nothing short of disgraceful and casts doubt on the integrity and impartiality of those both in front and behind the camera.  I understand they will often forgo coverage of the build up to a race just to wheel on rep after rep spouting trash and lies.  'Rancid' is the word that best describes the situation and I for one will never subscribe to such a channel.

i tried to place a 200 pound bet on a horse in william hills in white chapel and there was nearly a riot as the shop girl insisted on ringing head office to confirm the bet and took ages, the race was off and she said it was too late now,it won and i never went near a william hill again,its paddy power in whitechapel for me now,there is no fairness or protection in england for punters just unfair people like william hills and ladbrokes and coral and tote,,,

When I worked at bills a well-known punter wanted £200k on a double that worked out around even money... trading dept said he could have £5k... They don't lay big bets.

Thanks for posting that Guinness2, not being a subscriber I was unaware of this deal.  I implore all of the '50000 subscribers (yeah right)' to have a good think about whether you should continue to subscribe to RUK.

^ 50,000 * £20 = £1m a month.

They managed it for 6 years without spivs help..

So what's changed ? Less subscribers ? That doesn't add up because you say that 50,000 isn't enough to run it..

We know the bet is complete BS , but i cant imagine anyone stupid enough to have half a million on a horse ridden by that jockey. He finds laying straight in bed very difficult.

Bookies elbowing each other in race for the moral high ground

The post-Grand National Silly Billy Stakes could prove a most watchable event, and it's good of the bookmakers to put something back into the sport of kings

Marina Hyde guardian.co.uk,

Perhaps it's too soon for racing to provide yet another spectacle from which many moralists may feel bound to look away. But those of us long since lost to the gutter will find much to enjoy in a battle – currently raging – for the very soul of bookmaking public relations. I'm sorry, you may be spluttering. The what? And in truth, it is not the most unreasonable of queries. The idea that bookmakers even have a reflection in mirrors is fanciful enough – the idea that the aspect of their business that marries up with spin-doctoring possesses a soul will be a leap too far for many.

But I am grateful to the Daily Mail for alerting me to an apparently escalating feud between the spokespersons of various bookies. The straw that caused the screens to be erected around the camel seems to have been William Hill's boast about what the firm claims is the biggest single bet it has taken in its history. Details of the wager are being strictly rationed – suspiciously so, say some – but the bookmaker's account has a chap walking into a high street branch somewhere in the south of England, and using a credit card to stake £500,000 to win £100,000 on the irksomely punctuated Big Buck's in the Liverpool Hurdle on the opening day of last week's Grand National meeting. Big Buck's came in, and Hills issued a typically restrained press release telling the tale, and concluding that "investors will surely soon begin recommending him as the cornerstone of any portfolio". (And obviously, when they say "surely", what they mean is they've stopped taking bets on the possibility.)

Just another bit of gambling puffery, you may think – but it seems to have sent William Hill's rivals into quite a temper. "One betting firm is out on its own with the publicity tactics it's pursuing," fumes the Coral spokesman, who seems keen to join in the most convincing fit of morality since Casablanca's Captain Renault declares himself to be "Shocked! Shocked!" to find that gambling is going on in the gambling den he frequents. As Coral's man goes on: "At least the rest of us have a semblance of truth in what we claim."

You'll have appreciated that openly conceded "semblance of truth", which sets the bar about five foot lower than any Aintree fence. But I hope you won't appreciate it quite as much as the intervention from Ladbrokes's David Williams, who also seems to believe the tale to be a fabrication. "This is irresponsible," David fumes. "It's got out of hand."

Well, hasn't it just? I know just what he means – if bookies carry on this way, the public may even be moved to question their sacred trust in them. (Incidentally, here is David glossing Neptune Collonges's National win in the Sunday Telegraph: "The result could scarcely have been any better. Neptune Collonges slipped off most radars, and most of the cheers at Aintree came from the bookies." And here he is on the same subject in the Sun, which tipped Neptune Collonges: "Sun readers clobbered us. It should have been a glorious result for us and the whole industry but your man has ruined it. This will go down as one of the greatest pieces of tipping in racing history.")

At some level you have to salute these most tireless of publicists, who presumably only say anything that will get them in the papers precisely because it always gets them in the papers.

Consider all the publicity they get out of cultural comings-and-goings developments on which no one really bets. Years ago, on the Guardian's diary column, we were struck by the unquestioning column inches bookies were getting out of confected stories about the book on who was going to replace the retiring Jimmy Young on his Radio 2 show. The way they told it, you'd think punters up and down the land were hotfooting it to betting shops and, instead of feeding £20 notes into the touch-screen crack pipes that are the roulette machines, were marching up to the counter and declaring: "I'll have £1,000 on that nice Jeremy Vine for The JY Prog, please."

In order to assess this fantastical sounding market, we telephoned William Hill's publicist, the estimable Graham Sharpe, and informed him that we wished to place £50,000 on Vine taking over. There was a pause on the line, before Graham appeared simultaneously to attempt to buy time and call our bluff, effectively saying that if we wanted to nip into our local branch and show staff the colour of our money, he was sure they'd consider accepting the bet. Course they would. (If memory serves, the market was suspended minutes thereafter.)

On the one hand, the spectacle of a load of bookies elbowing each other as they scramble for what they imagine to be their industry's moral high ground is a bit like one of those arguments between Big Brother contestants in which one calls another stupid. But on the other, it's a most watchable piece of sport, and it's good of them to put something back. I for one would like to see the Silly Billy Stakes continue, and ideally develop into a market of its own. All it needs is for one bookmaker's spokesperson to offer me odds on which of their rivals will make the biggest arse of themselves, and I invite enterprising parties to get in touch accordingly.

I wonder if Marina Hyde is aware that most of the time William Hill won't even take a £50 bet, let alone a £500,000 one.

The most I can have online on any horse currently racing, and indeed any horse yet to be born, with William Hil is £0.00...

Incidentally, here is David glossing Neptune Collonges's National win in the Sunday Telegraph: "The result could scarcely have been any better. Neptune Collonges slipped off most radars, and most of the cheers at Aintree came from the bookies." And here he is on the same subject in the Sun, which tipped Neptune Collonges: "Sun readers clobbered us. It should have been a glorious result for us and the whole industry but your man has ruined it. This will go down as one of the greatest pieces of tipping in racing history."

Enough said.

35% profit on the race this year.

Marina has David Williams bang to rights.  I would love to be a fly on the wall if they ever met, I think he would just curl up on the floor like a hedgehog rather than face the inevitable intellectual mauling he would receive...

LADBROKES Website


Jessica Bridge of Ladbrokes said: “Horse racing has never been so glamorous and the odds suggest female punters betting on the Grand National are going to go through the roof.”

She added: “Betting on Coleen’s outfit is becoming as prestigious a market as the colour of the Queen’s hat at Royal Ascot!”


As Nan Taylor would say "Whatta lot of old s***"

irishracing.com


THE ROONEYS will give racing a massive publicity boost this year according to Ladbrokes.


Following Wayne's latest equine purchases and in conjunction with Coleen's glamorous trips to the racecourse the bookies predict their involvement in the sport will trigger a frenzy of interest - which could cost them millions if his string of horses find their way to the winning post first.


Pippy & Tomway now join Switcharooney as the three set to run in his pink and white colours and as he adds to his stock the odds of the Manchester United striker one day taking out a training licence of his own are cut to 25/1 (from 50/1)


It's 33/1 any of his horses land a Group One contest this summer, and 40/1 he manages to get a winner at Royal Ascot.


Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: "The Rooneys look set to thrust the sport firmly into the limelight. His goals do enough damage but a big race win will hit the bookies for millions."


Ladbrokes latest betting


Wayne Rooney racing specials


To beat a horse owned by Michael Owen or Sir Alex Ferguson into second this year - 16/1

To win at Royal Ascot this year - 40/1

To win a Group One this year - 33/1

Wayne or Coleen Rooney to have taken out a training licence by 2030 - 25/1 (from 50/1)

Wayne Rooney to score and reveal a t shirt with a picture of the horse this season - 16/1

Pictures to be published of Wayne Rooney riding any horse this year 4/1

Wayne Rooney to take out a trainers licence before 2050 - 6/1

Wayne Rooney to parade the horse(s) at Old Trafford at any time this year - 100/1

The horse(s) to have a hair transplant at any time - 250/1

"Enough is enough. After punters began trying to get £1000 bets on Kyle Walker to win Young PFA Player of Year we've closed the market," said William Hill media relations director Graham Sharpe on Twitter.

This is the firm that takes £500,000 Bets

they do if they know gordon taylor as the result is already known

Premier League - Scam fear over PFA young player award

Bookmakers fear they could be the victims of a betting sting after large sums were placed on outsider Kyle Walker to win PFA Young Player of the Year.


The Tottenham full-back opened as a 33-1 rank outsider for the award but a string of big bets saw him move quickly to 5-6 favourite before most of the high street bookies closed the market.

"Enough is enough. After punters began trying to get £1000 bets on Kyle Walker to win Young PFA Player of Year we've closed the market," said William Hill media relations director Graham Sharpe on Twitter.

"Forgive me for being cynical, but I can't help but think the already decided outcome of Young PFA Player of the Year may have been 'leaked'!"

Walker is arguably the lowest profile name on the young player shortlist which also contains Manchester City star striker Sergio Aguero, who was also nominated for the senior award, and Walker's team-mate, Gareth Bale, who won the senior award last season.

Other high street bookmakers confirmed they were getting similar requests to put money on Walker before closing their books.

“We did close the book. It’s just about us exercising caution,” Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes was quoted as saying in the Mirror; Paddy Power's Darren Haines added: "There were unexpected lumpy bets on Kyle Walker and we closed the betting.”

Also on the shortlist for the award are Manchester United's Danny Welbeck, Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge and Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Whats the point in having bookmakers if punters can actually win must be a common thread at many a high street firms internal discussions.

"They dont like it MR mannering, they don't it up em sir, they dont like that cold steel "

The only truoble you are likely to meet apart from bad results on an exchange are the few bad eggs on the forums but these can be ignored with a peg on the virtual nose.