Lifetime punter Philip Goldberg wrote earlier on Thursday and asked ‘Where Have All The Punters Gone?”
Fellow sufferer Garrick Bergh now responds in the Sporting Post Mailbag and says that on 27 June this year he will celebrate one full year since he last had a bet on any event in any shape or form.
For someone who, possibly like you, has punted substantial volumes since the very early 1970’s it is a noteworthy change.
Some of my reasons may even resonate with you and other punters who have ‘turned it up’ or gravitated to other activities.
- I developed a taste for UK racing after being a committed fan of SA racing exclusively from 1970 – 2003. My reason? I found the quality of the racing to be vastly superior and the spectacle more diverse. So it was not entirely ‘about the bet’.
- With the advent of streaming I was able to avoid the dreadful (in my sole opinion) Tellytrack broadcasts and enjoy the comparative professionalism of the UK product. Unfortunately this changed dramatically at the beginning of 2019 when streaming visuals started lagging the ‘live’ event by up to 1 minute and the choice of races being streamed changed and/or reduced.
I raised this issue in writing with both my ‘betting provider’ and directly with Tellytrack.
Neither chose to provide reasons despite promising action; so I decided to call it quits on horse betting.
By my estimate that resulted in lost turnover to the industry of about R5 million per annum even though horses were no longer my primary betting choice.
- I had long ago abandoned any tote bets for many of the reasons which you have enumerated eloquently in the past. Unfortunately the mandarins at Phumelela have never actually understood that a punter also likes to develop a comfortable relationship with a betting provider and is not going to tolerate forever the appalling and squalid service that Saftote provides.
- I am a harsh critic of tote takeouts. This business model is broken and dates back to an era long past. How the operator, in all conscience, can offer bets which return a R0 dividend for a successful punt is beyond me.
- How did vested interests manage to block the legal introduction of betting exchanges? These could have revolutionised the betting market and lured a whole new generation into the sport.
- The arrival of sports betting in the late 90’s immediately attracted my attention. It manifested itself at a time when my interest, particularly in South African racing, was already waning. My habits changed very quickly and are best described as follows : I punted pounds on sport and pennies on racing.
- I find the perpetuation of ‘insider trading’ in racing offensive. No right thinking person can possibly continue to financially support a sport where lies of commission and omission continue unabated. Clearly the sport officially condones it as I still see SA post-race interviews where connections boast about a winners’ wellbeing; which was never disclosed to the customer and funder of the stakes. These revelations are often greeted with a ‘nudge, nudge, wink wink’ response and congratulations from the presenter.
- The ethics and morality of the operator have been well documented. Now we are being asked to give many of them ‘a second chance’. Wow.
- You will note that punter representation is still a glaring absentee from the ‘rescue programme’. The more things change the more they remain the same.
- If my experience is replicated in any way then racing is in bigger trouble than it can possibly imagine: I have found the last year rather pleasant with the complete elimination of ‘betting stresses’. I have been able to actually giggle as the operator ran around like a headless chicken whilst either litigating or begging. In sport I went back to being a fan; shouting support at the screen for my team of choice and not continually weighing up likely outcomes and my next play. It is unlikely that I will ever strike another bet. Not because I cannot afford to but rather because I don’t particularly want to.
Yet, for my sins, I still have a horse in training relentlessly consuming thousands each month. Once a mug always a mug?
