Punters searching for a fair go – winners still getting banned
MOST Australians love a punt, especially during the Melbourne Cup carnival, but what happens to the punters that consistently win with corporate bookmakers?
There are some punters in Australia who try to make a living by studying the form, but bookmakers make this pursuit as difficult as possible.
Banning and limiting punters has become a common practice. Winning is a threat to business.
Matthew Tripp is a popular name among corporate bookmakers. The Australian wagering tycoon built the Sportsbet brand, but is now the chief executive of CrownBet.
Tripp showed his frustration that CrownBet gets dragged into the discussion about bookmakers being harsh on winning punters.
“At CrownBet, we get dragged down to the lowest common denominator, being tagged or tarred with the same brush as many of the others who are too stringent with the way they handle punters,” Tripp told news.com.au.
“Punters are allowed to back winners – they are entitled to back a winner. If they didn’t back a winner, there would be no industry left.
“You can’t just have losing punters on your books.
“The important thing is we try to service everyone – yes there is a balance – we have got winners and we have got losers.
“I just wish the others would take heed and do something similar.”
Punters got given a lifeline recently with Racing NSW and Racing Victoria implementing the minimum betting laws, which force bookmakers to accept wagers from both winning and losing punters – to lose a designated amount on each bet.
Professional punter Daniel O’Sullivan believes it’s a good start for punters.
“There’s a couple of outfits that are still making it difficult, but most places are following the minimum bet laws and some places, like Sportsbet, have attempted to apply those laws everywhere,” O’Sullivan said.
“Victoria going ahead with the rule has given further momentum to a just cause.”
We question why Australian punters are given such a rough go by some bookmakers. In no other profession do experts get their success limited, so why should it apply to punters?
One of the main questions new punters ask is, ‘How much do I need to win before I am banned or limited?’ – the answer isn’t a cut-and-dried figure, but it could certainly become a big turn off for prospective punters in Australia.
Racing NSW took in plenty of complaints about punters not being able to bet, but after it implemented the minimum bet laws, bookmakers must take bets to lose between $1000 and $2000 from 9am on the morning of the race.
This doesn’t completely forgive bookmakers for limiting punters who put in the hard yards, but Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys said complaints are almost non-existent now.
“Before we first introduced them, there were a lot of complaints about various wagering operators,” V’Landys said.
“But the wagering operators, to give them their due credit, have abided by the spirit of it and the complaints have basically gone to zero from punters.
“We consulted quite extensively to make sure we got the balance right.
“It has assisted turnover, no doubt at all, but to what magnitude I’m not sure. That wasn’t our aim. Our aim was to get the right balance between the punter and the bookmaker and in particular, make sure the punter wasn’t disadvantaged.”
Matthew Tripp said the changes have been a positive for the industry, but believes punters still deserve better.
“The problem with the industry we have got at the moment, outside of there being too much advertising, is the fact the corporates are shooting themselves in the foot by not servicing the punter like they used to,” Tripp said. “I just think there is always a balance, no matter who the consumer is, whereby we can service them.
“We don’t give them carte blanche to do what they like, but at the same time we don’t ban people and we don’t cut them off.”
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