There was a recent comment by SP poster Speedyvar that Gold Circle had incorrectly indicated the venue code on a Free Quickmix Tab sheet which cost a punter, writes Arthur Barbeau in the Sporting Post mailbag.
That comment is appended to this story – please click for some background
Mr. Patrick Loker replied that after an investigation it was found they were not at fault.
Fair enough as it was found that the punter had walked into a Gold Circle outlet and received this form which was available at the outlet.
This form was a tabonline form and not a Gold Circle form.
But was punter to know the venue code was incorrect?
The question is – where did tabonline get the venue code to be marked on Gold Circle’s Betmark Cards?
This must have come from Gold Circle as it cannot be that a venue code was just picked without Gold Circle knowing.
If you look at Gold Circle’s betting forms they have,a block marked KZN,GTG,WCP SPA,SPB SPC and so on.
When they print Tabforms for a meeting in the Western Cape it states: Betmark Key WPR.
But there is no venue WPR on their Betmark forms – so which venue do punters have to mark?
Mr Loker once stated that every morning Gold Circle mails an A4 sheet that has the correct venue codes for that days’ racemeetings and they instructed outlets to post these at a place in the outlets.
Looking at some of these A4 sheets that have the ‘correct venue codes’ one see for a Vaal meeting Venue Code TVL – and for a Greyville meeting venue code NTL.
These venues do not appear on betmark form. So what should a punter mark?
If you go to tabgold today and check the Tab form (not the summary) for the Vaal, you will see the Gold Circle mark on it shows Vaal-classic [GTG].
But then look at the end of form after the 8th race you will note Betmark Key-KZN.
Does Gold Circle want punters to mark their Betmark forms KZN or GTG?
We think because it states Betmark Key KZN it means form should be marked KZN and then hope you are right.
There are many times this happens and Gold Circle does their investigations and find they are not at fault!
Is this not a Multi-million rand business?
Gold Circle Commercial Executive Patrick Loker responds:
Can I state at the onset, that in the case of the incorrect code previously referred to, that I stated that the forms available in tabGold outlets and on the tabGold website had the correct code.
?
We also determined that the Quickmix tabform on Phumelela’s tabonline site was incorrect and thus, without knowing the origin of the tabform, I stated that had it been obtained off tabonline then it would have been incorrect.
If it was given to the customer in a tabGold betting outlet by a staff member, then I need to investigate that separately as that should not happen in a tabGold outlet.
While I did not determine why the wrong code had been used, it could well have been an error made by the person producing the form in Phumelela – or in fact that the incorrect code had been sent to Phumelela by Gold Circle. I find it very improbable that the latter occurred because we would have also used the incorrect code.
As far as the error in Thursday’s Vaal tabform is concerned, it is an error made by Gold Circle and I wish to apologise to any customers that were confused by the use of two venue keys for the same race meeting.
The correct code is ‘GTG’. The second code ‘KZN’ on the bottom of the sheet is incorrect and I will determine why this error was made and institute steps to avoid any reoccurrences in the future.
Once again I wish to apologise on behalf of Gold Circle to any customers inconvenienced by this unacceptable action on our behalf.
