Why you lose out as the betting companies earn

Reformed! Not once did he apologise for his actions towards innocent children. All he spoke about was himself and what he lost! Booker T Jones, soul musician, Neil Young, singer/songwriter, Kevin Ratcliffe, former footballer Nadia Comaneci, former gymnast, Mariella Frostrup, TV presenter, Tonya Harding, former figure skater, Anne Hathaway, actress PADDY POWER Betfair Plc has upgraded its full-year earnings forecast to somewhere between £465m to £480m, nearly half a billion pounds.

I love their use of the word ‘earnings’ as a metaphor, as if to somehow legitimise the obscene amount of money lost by ‘punters’ - sorry players.

We mustn’t say punter, it’s old bookmaker speak for someone to be ripped off.

And yet they continue to advertise.

They aren’t advertising for more winners – winners aren’t the targets.

There’s no money in winners, the ‘earnings’ come from the losers.

That’s not quite as shown in the adverts, nobody loses in the adverts.

No misleading imagery there then – this is simply government sanctioned legalised theft because as an ‘industry’ it pays a lot in taxes.

It all sounds very noble till you consider where these taxes come from.

They don’t come from those in the upper income bracket, they aren’t the ones who blow their money in the bookies or on scratch cards or on fixed odds one armed bandits.

It’s a tax on hope, the only hope many have of ever getting off the bottom.

God bless the Tories. WE should welcome all who want to preserve the integrity of Castle Hill.

I would, however, like to point out that regarding the article about the clear-up there after Bonfire Night, that electoral boundaries put Castle Hill in the Almondbury ward, not the Newsome ward.

Although the Newsome councillors are from a different party to myself, I would like to think that we enjoy a friendly relationship.

We have co-operated on several issues on which we have a mutual interest.

Our first priority is to serve the people of the area and conserve the land for the future.

Castle Hill at the moment I TOO, like many of your readers, despair on the condition of Huddersfield town centre.

This problem was actually started by the then Prime Minister Edward Heath, when he joined Huddersfield area with Dewsbury area and named it Kirklees.

This was supposedly to drag Dewsbury up to the standard of Huddersfield.

In actual fact just the reverse has happened, as everybody can now see