TAB Confirms It Takes Bets After The Jump
A friend of mine that loves a punt relayed this tale to me last night at dinner. I respect this bloke and have no reason to doubt him.
At Geelong dogs on a Monday last week he asked the TAB for $700 on Hades Meteor at $2.70 fixed over the internet. The bet was requested 30 seconds or so before the race was due to commence and as is the “norm” now, winning punters requests are referred to a trader to be accepted or part accepted or totally declined. Basically your pending bet “keeps spinning” until the decision is made. We all hate it, but recognise this as part of the current landscape, a landscape with a definite bias toward the bookie.
The decision on my mates bet was not made as the lure moved, nor was it made as the lids rose. His bet was accepted seven seconds after boxrise (a third of the way through the race). It was apparent that Hades Meteor was not going to win at this stage of the race. This is a shoddy business practice Supertab and it gets worse, much worse.
Naturally my mate was upset by what he called “thievery”, and wished to discuss his feelings with the TAB. He got a call back from the Platinum Account Manager/Representative. My mate has a Platinum Account so we know he likes to bet, and he's good at it.
He explained what had happened and the response was extremely disturbing.
The TAB representative basically informed my mate that they have rules that allow them to accept/partially accept or decline bets after the green light. “How can that be?”, my mate asked, fully aware that we do not have “in-play” betting here.
“They are the rules”, was the reply.
I feel sorry for my mate as he did his $700 cold, but my real concerns are as follows:
1. Who wrote these rules?
2. If the bet is accepted in the run, surely that would count as in-play?
3. If they can accept bets after the green light, how long after. Perhaps they have the power to wait until the race is resulted before making their decision. What exactly are the rules?
4. Whose best interest do these rules best represent?
5. How consistently are the rules applied?
6. Do these same rules apply to the major corporate bookmakers, such as Sportsbet and Sportingbet?
If the rules do exist as we were explained then why do we bother with integrity officers at Racing Clubs etc. There is no integrity that can be salvaged from this sort of grubby business practice.
My mate intends to discuss this with the Racing Minister and I hope he goes right on with it.
ARG took this punters case to the TAB and the Platinum VIP Team to find the answers to the many issues raised by this situation.
While we couldn't get confirmation on a number of points, we were able to get confirmation that bets are allowed to be accepted after the jump in fixed odds markets, and that the trader will use their discretion as to how far in the race to accept the bet. In this case the TAB Platinum VIP Team maintain that they felt the greyhound in question was in a winning position when the bet was taken. Their opinion is the bet was accepted while the greyhound was contesting the lead on the rail.
The TAB Platinum VIP Team member confirmed that they will often decline bets if after the jump it is clear the greyhound cannot win. However, it was always a fine judgement call because if the dog wins and the bet is declined they cop it and if it loses after the bet is accepted they cop it.
The easiest way to fix this would be to ban all action either way after the jump. This is why the green light was introduced, to give traders and the TAB enough time to close the market. It is a situation of damned if you do and damned if you don't, which is unfair on all parties involved.
Officially we were referred to the TAB legal team, who give us this comment.
“It is not appropriate to publicly comment on individual customers. TAB categorically rejects any assertion that it accepts or rejects fixed odds bets based on the way runners commence in a race. Any bet accepted is done so in good faith. The betting rules, approved by State gambling regulators, do permit wagering operators to accept fixed odds bets up to the conclusion of the event.”
Hades Meteor – Box One
Video Courtesy Of GRV
Deserves everything he gets for taking $2.70 about a nonnie like Hades Meteor.
Shayne Triffett Rodney Callinan
Dodgy pricks
What a joke!
Bet they rip off normal punters as well by changing the dividend after the race…
Dogs
So technically they can leave them all sitting there until after the jump
Just had this argument with Sportsbet. Tried to put my bet on it went into pending. Dog jumped really well and bet suddenly became suspended.
The on line bookies have been doing this for years…….it has happened to me many times………..but its swings and round abouts I never complain when they win……..its called business……….whats alot worse in my opinion is late at night when the on line bookies stop all betting at advertised starting time and you cant get on after that as most events and races do start after post time…..I presume the computer is programmed to do that………I like to see how a horse is behaving at the gate but because I cant get on after advertised start time it is often not… Read more »
you can shut down the tab browser while ur on intercept and that will cancel the bet.
Deserves everything he gets for taking .70 about a nonnie like Hades Meteor.
Shayne Triffett Rodney Callinan
Dodgy pricks
What a joke!
Bet they rip off normal punters as well by changing the dividend after the race…
Dogs
So technically they can leave them all sitting there until after the jump
Just had this argument with Sportsbet. Tried to put my bet on it went into pending. Dog jumped really well and bet suddenly became suspended.
The on line bookies have been doing this for years…….it has happened to me many times………..but its swings and round abouts I never complain when they win……..its called business……….whats alot worse in my opinion is late at night when the on line bookies stop all betting at advertised starting time and you cant get on after that as most events and races do start after post time…..I presume the computer is programmed to do that………I like to see how a horse is behaving at the gate but because I cant get on after advertised start time it is often not… Read more »
you can shut down the tab browser while ur on intercept and that will cancel the bet.