A recent pic of SA racing’s latest celeb – it’s the best we could do
Is SA horseracing’s newest celeb a typical example of a poorly informed punter, generally out of touch or simply a puppet of convenience in a world of public relations smoke and mirrors? While the heart goes out to anybody with Wayne Kruger’s tale of woe and bad fortune, there may well be more questions than answers.
Kruger, who claims to be a lifetime punter, is resident in the Cape but found himself at the Turffontein night meeting last Tuesday evening where he was interviewed live and generally feted as a hard done by guy who had experienced the most awful misfortune and disappointment– at the hands of bookmakers, naturally.
Kruger was one of the lucky winners of the bumper Pick 6 at Turffontein on Summer Cup day that paid R2 044 599-20 and held a R380 ticket from a Marshalls World Of Sport branch near his home that said he had won 20,60%, or as he calculated it, R410 000 odd.
“I took my bet and just left and went home to follow the racing. Everybody was happy and was jumping up and down when they heard about my win.”
It was only after chatting to the teller in the Marshalls branch that he realised to his horror that he had won ‘only R96 000.’
He alleged that the teller had told him that ‘they phoned us to put up the limit notices.’
“I have never been aware of the payout limits and nobody has ever indicated to me that odds limits apply. They didn’t tell me when I took my bet and it is not indicated on the ticket. All I saw was the word ‘Saftote’. This is not the right thing to do,” he told Lyle Cooper.
In Writing
Kruger took the trouble to write to the Sporting Post to highlight the misfortune that he had encountered.
We tried in vain to meet with him to allow him the opportunity to pour his heart out and to get a balanced insight into the character behind a man that has apparently been punting for thirty years and yet, astonishingly, had no vague idea of bookmaker odds limits.
We were also keen to understand how he had managed to escalate his service problem in such record time in an environment that hardly entertains customer input – never mind being flown to Joburg and being wined and dined at the races, with Tellytrack air-time thrown in. All within 48 hours!
The Bookmaker Responds
One man that took our call and was willing to chat was Jeremy Marshall of Marshall’s World Of Sport.
He has confirmed that all of their Western Cape outlets are strictly governed and monitored by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board, a major part of which includes compliance.
“We are subject to an opening as well as bi-annual compliance audits and this process includes our adherence to Rule 23 of the WCGRB Bookmakers Operational Rules. Our tickets also reflect a maximum payout per unit of R 500 000 which does appear on Mr Kruger’s ticket at the time of him taking his bet.”
Marshall continued:
“It is always regretful when these situations arise. However, we have, and will continue to comply with the WCGRB legislation that requires all Bookmakers to display their respective rules and limits. To this end; the WCGRB conducts an audit of our branches before we open them to ensure that all our regulatory notices, including limits, are displayed and I confirm that this was done at Brackenfell which casts doubt on Mr Kruger’s comment on our only putting up the limits notice the following day.”
He went on to say that unfortunately, this incident had once again highlighted a far more serious situation that this industry currently faces, and that is the continuing battle between Bookmakers and Phumelela.
“Bookmakers have been lobbying Phumelela, for an extended period of time, for a tote commission of 8% as opposed to the current 4%, whereby we would cease laying the Open Bet and ensure that all “open bets” are placed on the Tote. In fact Dinish Rajpaul of Kenilworth Racing had an open invitation from us to put tote terminals in all our branches but the offer was never taken up,“ he said.
“In KZN we do not lay the Open Bet in outlets where we are Gold Circle agents, nor do we offer the Open Bet in the Western Cape where we sub-lease from Kenilworth Racing. Kenilworth Racing and Phumelela, however, have refused to grant us Tote agencies or even installing tote terminals, which has subsequently led to us offering the Open Bet in our stand alone branches in order to ensure that our patrons receive the full package of betting options,” he concluded.
Apparently Mr Kruger has since lodged a formal dispute with the WCGRB.
We are still none the wiser about Wayne Kruger – but our invitation stands for the interview.
