The story I have heard a few times recently just about sums up the current state of the betting industry. I have heard it from a few different people now. It relates to placing accas on horse racing in the shape of Lucky 15s. Lucky 31s or Lucky 63s. Lucky 15’s are a combination of four selections, Lucky 31’s a combination of five selections and Lucky 63s a combination of six selections.
It involves bets being placed on races that the bookmaker has chosen to price up. Important to remember the ‘chosen’ bit. What happens is that the bookmaker will accept the prices for all but the last selection in the combination. On that last selection they are saying the customer has to take SP (starting price) about the price of that selection and not the price they are quoting. It just means that if the bookmaker has a large liability heading into the final leg of the acca they can manipulate the SP in their favour. The bookmaker can do whatever they want but it is just so typical of what we see. If they don’t want to take the bet don’t take it. Don’t start changing fundamentals of the bet though. If they don’t feel like they have a big enough edge, offer a lesser price on the final selection. Or a reduced stake. To go SP on that final leg though is a nonsense especially when that is the price you are offering to others. It just highlights the bookies taking advantage of punters once again.
If a bookmaker offers you this proposition politely decline and tell them to shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. It will almost certainly represent poor value for you. If you have no idea what the price will be on the final selection how can you have any idea as to whether the price represents value or not. You would need some ridiculous value on the other selections to make this viable.
There are ways around this type of behaviour but I don’t want to really highlight it on here. It doesn’t take a genius though. It just gives an idea of the types of small things bookmakers will continually do to shift the balance in their favour even more, with scant regard for the customer.
ProPunting 