....Kevin Blakes blog .....

The problem is all the new type punters want risk free gambling,they want to back a horse at 4/1 and lay it back at 2/1.

Some of the complaints about not being able to get on are risible,they see a rick and try to get on in the middle of the night and then are surprised when a computer restricts them.

Blake also complains about bookmakers not accommodating winners but says nothing about the way Betfair treats winners.
The regular winners have always had trouble getting on this is not new.

I think the whole "arbing" thing is just a bookmakers excuse not to lay myself,why should a second transaction be relevant to them? I wouldn't be too critical either with any one with that ploy as no fun whatsoever being a loser, there are opportunities but not that many as you are against the books overround.
Think it would be a bit unfair for Kevin to name names, betfair's sports book is by far the worst i,ve ever come across,what annoys me most is the free advertising from say a special on the racing channel with one of their "reps",the main hr forum complained that in nearly all cases a max of 1 or 2 pound on Richard Hughes to ride a winner on his last day(he didn't as it happened and it backfired on them). Max allowed is generally 2-4 Euro pending on price.
The exchange is worse as a customer of say 10 years can in theory be forced elsewhere being in profit by 7k which over the course of time equates to less than £2 a day.

It's easy for a man who clearly has never been restricted to come out with comments like yours Wildman, you simply need to walk a day in our shoes, i bet Blakemister junior has.

" you simply need to walk a day in our shoes "

Rocketfingers manages to use one of the most annoying cliches whilst trying to portray himself as someone to be feared,his trips to bookies are generally accompanied by a roll he purchased in some garage and start with him availing of the free tea followed by a complimentary biscuit,it ends with him destroying one of the Jacks and then skulking out without having spent a penny.

I'm surprised Wildman that you dont see a problem with what's happening wrt restrictions and it certainly isnt about people trying to get bets on in the middle of the night. Its so bad that you have multi-million pound bookmaking firms limiting people to stakes of 2 or 3 euro even on relatively low priced horses. In some instances bets are refused but the odds are not shortened which says they are not operating as proper bookmakers. Its not about arbing either which is only a red herring put out by bookies to cover up their own miserable operating methods. Some people have even had losing accounts closed. Bookmakers have public licences and it should be mandatory that they take bets from everyone, subject to limits of course just as publicans cant refuse legitimate customers either.

Having watched the recent programme on bbc it made you wonder , they allowed a lad spend £2,000 on those machines , can you just imagine trying to get that on a horse .

walk a day in our shoes?

wr you have been in my local bookies..we have 6 of the machines, the cause havoc, lads kicking them and call the staff all kinds after a bad day..ive seen lads win plenty but lose also ive never played them..thankfully

Good to see an "insider" like Kevin Blake drawing attention to the new reality of modern-day bookmaking practices.

Workrider, surely you have heard of the Gorey Post Office Betting Fraud where Paddy P accepted bets, averaging over €23,000 per day, over a period of 14 months from an easily recognisable gambling addict ?

http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/columnists/michael-clifford/online-g...

reb ..these a guy on twitter who has brought this into focus and he and tracksuit dave and others have posted lots of emails and letters from all the firms closing down successful accounts..some not successful..(which doesent make sense) the RP done a spread on it not long ago due to the pressure from social media..but they were not as hard on the bookies as expected ..(worried about advertising)

Bookmakers are basically dole recycling offices who now and again come across someone with money.

An awful lot of that redress money ended in bookies pockets ( the few old bob for the grand kids and trips to Lourdes was a lie ) a lot of the proceeds of these bogus claims head the same way.
Similarly drug money ends there,Gilligan lost fortunes to them.

These types are targeted,the latest victims are Premiership footballers,usually unintelligent and savagely overpaid.

I'm not saying its right but expecting bookmakers to have morals is unrealistic,they never had and never will.

i often contribute to threads like this and its not trying to make out im wildly successful,far from it.but some of the goings on of our premier bookmaker(pp) is nothing short of scandalous.they systematically shorten impending non runners to ensure a bigger deduction.they run misleading add regularly.most peole who bet horses on line are restricted  last week i got a tip from a lad by text.it sounded a good idea.i wasnt near a shop or wasnt in a positon to get to one.i tried 50ew on line with pp at 20/1.i was offered 4% of what i wanted.i refused.in an instant the price was 14/1  bigger fool me says you.but you dont expect this?

Thanks for that, tony.

I wrote an extensive email to the Sean O'Rourke show on RTE radio, last year, about the new bookmaker reality, offering to come on the show and discuss the issue. I received no reply. I then re-sent the same email to the Director General. Again, no reply. Coincidentally, it was 6 weeks before the World Cup which provided a lot of advertising revenue for RTE from one bookmaker in particular.

They want to take you €100 in €5 bites, not in a €100 bet.

It raises the issue ,should they hold a bookies license if unwilling to take a bet , or should they be made declare themselves casinos . Maybe if punters got together and paraded up and down outside their offices it would draw attenion to the problem.Looks as if the new punters forum will be addressing this very thing soon ...

I find it ironic that Kevin Blake is coming out with this now.In his book "It Can Be Done" he claimed that all his bets in said book could be proved and were with Ladbrokes.When his book came out,he posted a thread on here inviting foremites to comment about the book.I called him out about getting on with Ladbrokes and requested that he put up the proof.He refused and shortly afterwards the thread was deleted.

I recall a different scenario KR. Was it not the case that you were invited to have a punt on whether he was being truthful before he would release proofs and wouldn't take part in the bet?

I would have no doubt the bets were real. Whether they were available to all customers is another story but I wouldn't doubt Kevin's honesty.

He said was getting e1,000 win on with Ladbrooks online...Regardless of his own situation of getting on or not, it's a great article to be out in the public domain for anyone that has a restricted account or been refused bets in shops...

Ladbrooks refusal to lay decent bets in their shops has come back to bite them on their a-- seeing all these Dublin branches with the shutters down and all their staff unemployed. Delighted.

the best info KEVIN BLAKE wrote in his book, was about walking the courses and getting a feel for the tracks, apart from that it
was a glorified short story about how he beat the bookies, he should of employed a focus group before he started writing, they
maybe could of given him a few pointers, before he put pen to paper, his book was a shallow read.

Wildman on the issue of punters wanting it both ways there should be distinctions drawn. The body of punters Kevin is aiming at are those that at least putting up a fight against the bookies rather than the majority of office merchants spunking away what little they have.

As it stands they are entitled to lay who they want what they want. The ultimate goal may well be to have it's customers focussed on virtual, casino and soccer rather than racing (the one sport in my view where it's possible the backer can know more than the layer). It's good the issue is getting traction by a mainstream voice anyway even though it'll most likely come to nothing.

if they put up prices they should state what the max bet is to all customers..i think thats simple enough?

Aug 11, 2015 -- 5:40PM, TellTheKing wrote:

I recall a different scenario KR. Was it not the case that you were invited to have a punt on whether he was being truthful before he would release proofs and wouldn't take part in the bet?I would have no doubt the bets were real. Whether they were available to all customers is another story but I wouldn't doubt Kevin's honesty.

It was a simple request.
Why did he refuse to put up the proof?
Why was the thread deleted?
It's all about creditbility,dear boy!

credibility?!?!  good man kinger..your middle name is credibility!!

I did you up like a kipper and you deserved it.
Seriously mate.Get over it.

Anyone else read his book and would like to share an opinion on it?? Was thinking of getting it. Granted ive taken Roadrunners opinion on it but would be grateful of more.

the article is valid as bookmaker restrictions have gone to another level in the past year. i found it very odd that blake could get on a  grand a pop with ladbrokes no problem, he said that he thought it was because they were rarely top price but to get a grand on at a few points below top price(mostly imaginary prices) on anything 9s or bigger is great going

he comes across ok on tv and clearly puts a fair bit of effort in , say he makes a few pound overall but nothing massive.

Wonder is why would you want to be going acrooss to london to sit in studio or even going to track and being stuck talking all day on atr. Maybe its for the atr fee but if you were making so much would you really be bothered

It's a decent read Joe. Quite short and went through it in an afternoon.

Basically it's a mixture of discussing his punting principles (patience, discipline and value) and the application of same. There may not ne much in it that clued in punters shouldn't be doing already but good read all the same.

Ko2 by the sounds of it Kevin doesn't punt every day so working on ATR isn't going to hinder his study. If anything it complements his punting. Getting paid to do the analyst groundwork which he would be doing for his own punting purposes in any event.

I think himself and Gary O' Brien are years ahead of every other Irish racing pundit. Kind of fellas that you'd enjoy having a pint with.

kevin blake a decent guy..his book is very very intresting for anyone intrested in punting.i read lots of them.this one is the best..

Save your money Joe,it's all basic stuff,nothing advance in it.Roadie has got it in one word,shallow!Plus there is a major creditbility problem concerning Ladbrokes but hey ?you cant blame him for trying to make a few quid.

Final Furling have done a podcast as a follow up to this article with Blake, Calvin and Channing on it discussing. Decent listen I thought.

Blake has no right to comment on racing. He's clueless. His tipping column with Betfair made for painful reading. Not sure he selected a winner all season