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What will the Grand National SP percentage be tomorrow? My guess would be 150%+. If anyone thinks it will be lower than 130% (which is a higher vig than any major horse racing country in the world) they can get over 100s on Betfair at time of writing. So much for competition giving punters a good deal.
Where do the profits from this annual rip-off go. The sport itself sees very little, the government a little more, but the vast majority is an annual windfall for private companies, taking no risk and operating a de facto tote.
This is supposed to be racing’s shop window and what happens? Any greenhorns walking in a betting shop will get fleeced as there bet defaults to a rigged price that offers the worst value in the horse racing world.
Next to the till where their bet is rung through will be a tote direct machine, that will allow them to bet to 116% if they take that option. Upwards of ninety percent of runners will give them a better return on it. Some of the retained money might even find its way back to the sport.
Will any kindly souls from the racing community point these novices in the right direction?
Will journos? Almost certainly not. If they do speak of the tote in this country it’s invariably in derogatory terms. The best you’ll get from them is the advice to take a price. Gee thanks.
Will the Sports Personality of the Year? He used to promote the tote but apparently got a better offer from an offshore bookie. He’s obligingly holding up one of their SP slips in a full page advert I saw today, ushering in his fans to the yearly looting.
Will the sport’s glorious leaders? No, they’re still deluded enough to think their fortunes are intertwined with the turf accountants! They applaud high overrounds in private and Paul Struthers won’t speak about them in public.
Will Racing For Change? No, Rod Street’s another guy who refuses to speak on the taboo subject of rigged SPs.
Will the country’s glorious leaders? Well they chose to legalise off-course bookmaking and designed the rigged SP system, so it’s unlikely.
Will the tote itself? Well,they’d have to wake up from their coma first.
No, for all of them it’s a simple equation. When there’s a choice between helping the sport and its potential future followers and taking the short-term option of helping themselves, it’s simple case that the gravy’s too good.
Skipping over the usual stuff, it certainly is interesting that Mr McCoy – our wonderful sports personality of the year – is promoting an offshore bookmaker. Just months after backing ‘Racing United.’ Oh wait, that would make him like our glorious leaders, wouldn’t it? Silly me, he fits in well……
Glenn, I look forward to the 2012 edition when betting with the Tote will be like any other bookmakers from the jungle.
Good post, Glenn. I wait with bated breath the sale of the Tote and hopefully common sense will prevail and the Foundation Bid will succeed. As it stands, the Tote is way off the pace.
The Tote certainly needs reinvigorating. Twice on Wednesday at Nottingham’s Further Flight meeting, I was stuck in long queues to place bets and twice I didn’t get my money on. I ended up arguing with senior staff. The reason? They never employ enough staff. You’d think with the number of new racegoers, they would have sufficient staff to deal with bets. In the United States, you cannot move for Pari-Mutuel staff at the races – not an exact comparison, I know.
The other thing is after time betting. In Ladbrokes at the moment, you can bet after the off at SP. The bookmaker makes a big deal of promoting this audibly and visually. At Fontwell yesterday, in a long distance chase run so slowly it was altering the laws of time and space, you could bet at SP for at least four fences.
The Tote does not allow after time betting at all. I like to bet late and the Tote is no good to me whatsoever. I’m sure there is a lag in the States which allows late money.
Yet, despite the antiquated ambience, the often stroppy staff, the inconsiderate punters (with their last minute multiple exactas and trifectas, their waiting till thirty seconds before the off to cash winning tickets); the lack of staff, the inflexibility of the software and the often jawdropping lack of liquidity, particularly at Southwell, I feel as if I
should
bet with the Tote because they give the most back -something you allude to in your post. Roll on the New Tote.
It’s being so cheerful that keeps us going isn’t it?
It’s Spring, the Sun is shining, get outside and enjoy life!
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwayshttp://images.racingpost.com/2010/Oct/21208.jpg
Tony McCoy: ‘it’s not right bookies don’t pay a fair return to racing’
Which bookie, Glenn?
Cav – The bookie is William Hills. Full page adverts all week. I’ve just noticed today’s has a take price tick box buried in the corner. No tote option though.
Cheers, Glenn. Top notch opening post. Very poor form, the champion jockey promoting a levy dodging firm. Especially when you consider he’s signed a charter opposing such firms.
Double standards alive and well.
There’s something I don’t understand about this SP malarkey. Surely there is some competition in the ring at Aintree. Presumably any bookie offering say a 120% overround would do pretty well without any need to artificially deflate prices at the off, even if they took a fair bit of office money as well.And if the man from Ladbrokes puts £10000 on Midnight Club at 7-1 you could easily lay it off on the exchange. So the SPs taken from a fair sample of bookies should round to well below 150%.
So I conclude there must be collusion amongst on-course layers as well. I would guess this should be illegal but maybe there are special rules for bookmakers who like to collaborate.
Good post, Glenn. I wait with bated breath the sale of the Tote and hopefully common sense will prevail and the Foundation Bid will succeed. As it stands, the Tote is way off the pace.
The Tote certainly needs reinvigorating. Twice on Wednesday at Nottingham’s Further Flight meeting, I was stuck in long queues to place bets and twice I didn’t get my money on. I ended up arguing with senior staff. The reason? They never employ enough staff. You’d think with the number of new racegoers, they would have sufficient staff to deal with bets. In the United States, you cannot move for Pari-Mutuel staff at the races – not an exact comparison, I know.
The other thing is after time betting. In Ladbrokes at the moment, you can bet after the off at SP. The bookmaker makes a big deal of promoting this audibly and visually. At Fontwell yesterday, in a long distance chase run so slowly it was altering the laws of time and space, you could bet at SP for at least four fences.
The Tote does not allow after time betting at all. I like to bet late and the Tote is no good to me whatsoever. I’m sure there is a lag in the States which allows late money.
Yet, despite the antiquated ambience, the often stroppy staff, the inconsiderate punters (with their last minute multiple exactas and trifectas, their waiting till thirty seconds before the off to cash winning tickets); the lack of staff, the inflexibility of the software and the often jawdropping lack of liquidity, particularly at Southwell, I feel as if I
should
bet with the Tote because they give the most back -something you allude to in your post. Roll on the New Tote.
So basically you’re the type of punter who runs to the counter barging everybody out of the way at precisely the same moment the race is off then screams at the poor wee lads and lassies making minimum wage for THEIR incompetence.
It’s being so cheerful that keeps us going isn’t it?
It’s Spring, the Sun is shining, get outside and enjoy life!Purwell, how disappointing that you don’t notice the issues. Well done Glenn.
So basically you’re the type of punter who runs to the counter barging everybody out of the way at precisely the same moment the race is off then screams at the poor wee lads and lassies making minimum wage for THEIR incompetence.
No, chief. Far from it.
As opposed to you being the type of Lazarus who picks fights on message boards?
If the Grand National is racing’s ‘shop window’ then the sport is in serious trouble.
And as for the Tote: the Tote is crap. It’s an antique & if there were to be a monopoly there would be people stood in queues waiting for their National winnings until a week next Tuesday.
It’s a good job the Tote gives it’s profits to racing because otherwise there really would be no reason not to get rid of it.
I honestly don’t care about the over-round in the National, better that than backing a horse at 5-1 only to find it’s been piled into & your actual return is a bag of chips. As had happened to me with the Tote more than once.
By the way, how is the over-round lengthened?
Looks like the final SP came to 155% for the win and 529% for the place. The tote beat SP on 38 of the 40 runners. It will be standing room only on the gravy train back from Aintree tonight.
For me the day was summed up by a group of excited women grouped around Gary Wiltshire, on the beeb, after the race. They’d got the tricast up and had won over £1900. How wonderful….except 1900/1 isn’t very good for a competitive race with over 59,000 possible perms is it? If they’d have had the bet on the tote tirfecta they’d have copped over £4400.
But who was guiding them to the trifecta?
Certainly not Wiltshire, who totesport have chosen to be their on-course rep. That’s right the firm with a tote monopoly, the only competion to the bookmakers, choose a bookie to be their rep. It’s like something out of Monty Python. He was even playing along to the part on their bookmaker’s board during the run up to the race.
Maybe the tote’s adverts would have guided the ladies to the superior value in the tote trifecta. Well, they would if there was a single mention of any form of pool betting in any of their multiple adverts today. I didn’t see one. There’s just mention of bookie bets and the same quickslip that McCoy was holding up for Hills.
How about racing for change? Weren’t they going to have on-course helpers to guide novices through the betting jungle? I’m sure I read about it. Trouble is those helpers were not exactly independent, as they were to be provided by Coral. I somehow doubt they’d mention the trifecta’s existence.
Channel 4? Despite being sponsored by the tote I can’t recall the trifecta’s existence ever being brought up during a broadcast.
No, nobody mentions the trifecta in this country as it’s covered by the official secrets act. Other countries fund entire meetings off it’s back, it even makes a major contribution to the public coffers but here it’s unmentioned and, as long as the bookies cream off 60-70% vig from their alternative for themselves, that’s the way it will stay.
I’ll let you into a little secret. There was a rollover in the trifecta today. What it was and which race it was on I can’t tell you, as I was too busy with other bets today to phone up the secret batphone where the information is imparted, but I’m guessing it was circa 15-20k and it was on the National. Hell, it might have been so high that they were paying out more than they took in: It does this on roughly half the Saturday rollovers. For those lucky enough to get rakebake it is a positive expectation bet, choosing blindly, on over 90% of Saturday rollovers.
But hey, who want to know about that? Nothing to see here.
Trifecta rollover – I confess I’ve never heard of it. I always wondered where the money went if nobody won a Trifecta. I have found this press release from 2005 which I assume still applies:
This new policy will start effective from Saturday 26th March, with rollovers from that day and until Friday 1st April, carrying forward to the first weekend rollover race, which will take place on Saturday 2nd April. The most likely nominated race that day will be the Stanleybet Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster. The rollover process will then follow in a cycle each week.
The cut off point for rollovers will be the last totetrifecta race in the afternoon on the Friday before the rollover race. The nominated race and the rollover will be confirmed after the last totetrifecta pool on the Friday afternoon. All rollovers thereafter will carry forward to the following weekend. On certain selected mid week Festival meetings the designated race may not be at the weekend, but will be nominated to be run on the last day of that Festival meeting. If this is the case, this will be communicated by totepool well in advance of that meeting. There are no changes to totepool betting rules or to external procedures in relation to this change.
But I am still in the dark as to where one finds out the rollover race and amount.
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