Just a gentle reminder after Cheltenham last week when you couldn’t place a bet for £10 on a favourite at even money. When we are given the sob stories by the bookmaking fraternity in the Racing Post about how the Black Market will rule the world and ruin their businesses. How Affordability Checks are endangering 110,000 jobs, £4.2bn paid in taxes to the Exchequer etc. These bookmaking companies are making ridiculously huge profits. They aren’t struggling to breakeven. Just about covering their costs. Nope. They are absolutely killing it.
You only have to look at the annual reports to see just how much money they are making. The EBITDA numbers are crazy. Entain £927m, Flutter £699m, Bet365 was £341m in 2021/22 etc. Let me get my violin out. They are cash generating giants. I think it is always important to remember this when you hear the next round of bleating. The next time these companies refuse you a tiny bet on a massive sporting event. A reminder of what a broken system it is. It is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture at times. Treat their propaganda with the contempt it deserves.
I am always left with an overwhelming thought though when I see the numbers. People are awful at gambling. Truly awful. One of the original aims of these tweets was to try and help educate the masses. Help them improve. What I have quickly begun to realise is that the huge majority have zero interest in improving. Obviously not helped by the media. They are happy being losers. Mind-blowing. Whilst those attitudes persist the big bookmakers will just continue to fill their coffers at an incredible rate.
ProPunting 