WHEN ALL OF THE HYPE DOESN'T QUITE ADD UP

By Graham Potter | Saturday, May 11, 2019

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

I’m confused.

One of the racing articles published this week stated that a punter had placed $200 000 on Nature Strip to win the Doomben 10 000. The article even broke down the bet … $100 000 at $2.20, another $50 000 at $2 and a final $50 000 at $1.90.

In the same vein, you will often see on racing television channels that this or that large amount of money has been placed on a particular horse … but I just can’t fathom how all of that high profile, betting move, market hype fits into the just as common scenario in which so many punters on the ground, of far lesser means then Nature Strip example, will tell you they have their account activity limited, with their betting options restricted, sometimes apparently to a drastic and frustrating degree.

There is a contradiction in there somewhere which arguably needs to be explained.

Rightly or wrongly, there is a view out there that betting agencies today only want to attract one type of punter … one who loses. That remains a debatable generalisation but what is true is the fact that the landscape of the gambling battleground has changed to a significant degree.

The bookmakers of old … true gamblers with a backbone to match … relished taking on punters in a battle of wits. Another generalisation, maybe, but these were real characters happy to take up the challenge face to face in a crowded betting ring which was no place for the faint-hearted punter of a wavering bookmaker.

All of that is gone now … from the personal interaction to the crowded betting ring. It has given way to the technical age where push button betting on a phone or some other device between a punter and the likes of a now largely faceless betting organisation, lurking behind a screen, is the new age betting world.

Nothing wrong with that in itself. Life moves on … but you have to think that those bookmakers of old must be turning in their graves the way current affairs are conducted. Not because of the technology side of things but rather because how different punters accounts don’t always seem to be on a level playing field.

Like the difference between reportedly accepting a $200 000 bet while placing a betting limit on a smaller punter.

The bottom line is that any betting organisation can conduct their affairs the way in which they see fit.

Afterall, it literally is their business but, let’s just say, they are certainly not endearing themselves to everyone at this time and just how much good they are actually doing for racing remains an open question.

In fact, that is another story altogether!