So the first of the two tweets on the subject looked at the television media and how little they have brought to the party in terms of helping the punter over the years with the various issues. Unfortunately the written press has been equally inept.
By written press we are mainly talking about the Racing Post and Sporting Life. Its not limited to that though. It includes newspapers, blogs, social media and any other written articles. Written media is an incredibly powerful tool to address the more serious of issues.
Unfortunately like the television media, the written media has been utterly incompetent and absolutely complicit with the situation we find ourselves in today. As always we have to look at the incentives for those involved and with the written media it is very ugly.
The Racing Post and the Sporting Life both make a huge amount of their revenues from bookmakers, whether that be advertising or affiliate deals. The more the punter loses the more they make. As a consequence they can never be a voice for the punter/customer.
They are in the pockets of the bookmakers. They have always behaved accordingly and unsurprisingly the punter is treated with contempt. They have had so many chances over the years to question some of the things that bookmakers have done and just haven’t for various reasons.
It’s why I can only laugh when I have the interaction with Bruce Millington (RP editor from 2007 to 2018) last weekend that I had. I retweeted his tweet making the observation that he of all people should be given little credibility when it comes to protecting the punter.
Lets be clear, under his guidance, the betting punter has been utterly failed. The impending affordability checks will be the end result of the work he oversaw. You can run and block people Bruce all you want but that’s your legacy. You can live in whatever echo chamber you want.
You may have single handedly played a huge role in the demise of racing via future Levy payments. Do not pretend to be outraged by affordability checks now. The way bookmakers acted was there for all to see and you actively turned a blind eye to it all in the pursuit of profit.
Bruce isn’t the only one who should be feeling embarrassed by the situation. Tom Kerr has had almost four years since and very little has changed. The same applies to the Sporting Life. They have had so many opportunities to question things and they haven’t.
I understand why it happens but don’t pretend you remotely give a s**t about the ordinary punter. You don’t. It is utterly self serving. A bookmakers lackey. If only you had questioned some of the bookmaker practices over the years. Instead you effectively endorsed them.
Lets switch gears a little and talk about the written media and their obsession with presenting views and advice for punters from current jockeys and trainers. I must have lived in a parallel universe when it was decided this was a sensible move and what the punter really needed.
We have seen jockeys (who we know don’t care about the punter) suggesting which rides they like that day. It just fails the sniff test on so many levels. I am sure the owners and trainers will be delighted if Ryan Moore tells all and sundry what the next touch to be landed will be.
The same applies to big name trainers. We have seen time and time again certain trainers absolutely put away those punting on ante post markets. Again, are they going to betray their paymasters for a few column inches? This is all whilst being sponsored by a bookmaker.
It gives you a insight into how much respect these publications have for the punter. Just conflicts of interest everywhere. Either that or we can have a lovely little article by Tony Calvin in midweek about the weekends racing.
It must be a nice little earner though when the prices crash (Imagine the shock that prices will get slashed when the bookmakers have tiny limits so far away from raceday – we have talked ad nauseum about that). How does this sort of thing honestly benefit the punter?
I could endlessly talk about the ridiculous state that the betting world and written media in particular finds itself in. I am just not sure I could do justice to the web of lies, deceit, mistruths and misaligned incentives . All with the aim of helping the punter of course….
I am grateful for the Racing Post though. It was after reading the incredibly ordinary article on Pro Punting that I decided to do these tweets in the first place. I just could not believe that this was the best, the trade newspaper could do on the subject.
Not only that but have the audacity to charge the customer £4.20 for the privilege. Once again it was just treating the punter with utter contempt. An overwhelming theme in these tweets.
ProPunting 