Punter hog-tied by TAB because he’s too good
The TAB is happy to take your money – but not if you keep winning. Racing Editor Barry Lichter talks to the punter the TAB fears the most.
CHRISTCHURCH PUNTER Graham Beirne laughs when reminded of the TAB’s slogan: ‘‘You know the odds, now beat them’’. That’s because Beirne is so successful at beating the odds, the TAB has imposed a $2000 ceiling on what he can win on a horse.
Beirne is one of several big punters who have been targeted by the TAB which claims their level of winning on fixed odds betting is ‘‘no longer sustainable by the New Zealand Racing Board.’’
In a letter to Beirne, executive general manager Glenn Patrick says the TAB is losing ‘‘a significant amount of money’’ on his fixed odds betting so it had to adjust the amount he could win.
Beirne can now not win any more than $2000 on a win or place bet, and cannot win any more than $2000 even on a combination multi, a restriction which Beirne says is ridiculously tight. The bets also have to be placed by 9.30am.
‘‘It’s more like, ‘You know the odds, now beat them. But if you do, we’ll cut you’,’’ says Beirne who is livid at the way he’s been treated by TAB officials.
In a climate where the TAB is struggling to lift turnover, and desperate to plug the leakage of betting overseas, Beirne says it is simply not logical to try to shut him down.
‘‘On the one hand they’re complaining about leakage – don’t bet overseas they say, but you can only back losers in New Zealand – ‘‘You can play in our sand pit but only if you lose.’’
Beirne says the TAB is forcing him to consider going underground – betting through his mates – but realistically he is left with only two options, taking his business to Australia or, more likely, throwing in the towel and completely divesting his considerable interests in racing.
BEIRNE, 67, best known as the owner of 1997 Auckland Cup winner Kate’s First, said he had been a passionate supporter of harness racing for more than 50 years.
‘‘I put $1 million into the industry every year through my 25 racehorses, plus broodmares and sponsorship, but I’m at the point I’m thinking of selling the lot and going and playing bridge.’’
In a reply to Patrick, Beirne cites the dwindling number of people racing horses in New Zealand.
‘‘The owners that continue to race horses are supplying the product for your customers to generate turnover. Have you also considered that while my past betting has cost you money on fixed odds, every time I line up a horse in a race it is making you money on the tote?
‘‘No doubt you also have other large winning customers but how
It’s more like, ‘You know the odds, now beat them. But if you do, we’ll cut you’.
Christchurch punter
Graham Beirne
many of these people contribute product for your customers to bet on to the degree that I do? I would suggest none.’’
Beirne is reluctant to reveal how much he wins - ‘‘nobody believes you if you say you win money betting’’ - but his overall strike rate last season saw him collect $1.06 for every dollar bet.
The TAB started imposing limits on what he could win a couple of years ago, he said.
For a while it was happy for him to win $3000 and, when the odds changed on a horse, he was allowed to bet again – ‘‘an eminently fair arrangement because that’s what bookies do.’’
But, while he could live with that, he now felt he was being railroaded into accepting a proposal that was too one-sided, especially when he had agreed to a review in three months.
Beirne said he had largely stayed away from betting with Aussie bookies because he wanted his turnover to benefit the industry.
He believed he had managed to stave off earlier tighter restrictions by the TAB through agreeing not to be lured by the big rebates being offered by a number of online Australian bookmakers.
Beirne said the TAB had offered him rebates of between 5% and 8% on tote bets here but to qualify he had to turn over $400,000 a month.
But betting more on the tote here made no sense – especially since in the last four years he had lost on tote betting.
The pools were so small here you could make a horse favourite by putting just $500 on it and the rebate was virtually negated by the smaller dividends he was forced to accept.
Beirne acknowledged he had enjoyed a good run in the last five years and said he agreed to some compromise. But his counter offer of a $3000 win limit was rejected.
Beirne said it was inconceivable the TAB could take a bet like that in the morning and still be unable to balance its books by start time.
If a bet of that amount caused such concern, the TAB needed to review its pricing or trading ability.
Beirne said he could even have accepted an annual limit of winning $150,000 on fixed odds betting, a proposal he thought Patrick had suggested as a potential solution during their first discussions.
‘‘I’m a businessman and I understand the need for compromise and fair play but it became apparent early on that there was no negotiating with these people.’’
When they finally produced the information he had requested on his recent activity to support his counterclaims, they ignored it and simply stuck to their original offer, he said.
PATRICK TOLD the Sunday Star-Times it was standard practice around the world for corporate bookmakers to restrict winning punters and he believed the way the TAB applied its limits was fair and reasonable.
He would not say how many punters the TAB had restricted but the limits ‘‘were more generous than most other bookmakers, and certainly not out of line with them.’’
‘‘One of our objectives under the Racing Act is to maintain a profitable wagering system and we need to take that obligation seriously.
‘‘There will be clients who have better information than us, or who are better than us, that we will need to put limits on.’’
Patrick said the TAB was bound to increase returns to the racing industry and balance that with its obligations to punters – ‘‘But not to the extent that it has a major erosion of value back to the wider industry.’’
Beirne’s winnings were ‘‘absolutely’’ in that category, he said, and that’s why his limits had been progressively lowered.
Patrick said while there was provision in the rules for the TAB to refuse bets completely from anyone, ‘‘I don’t think it would ever come to that,’’ he said.
Patrick said throughout negotiations with Beirne the TAB had been fair and respectful. In one of his letters to Beirne he said he had made a compromise to allow him to continue to back a horse in a single bet as well as a multi – in recognition of his standing in the industry and importance as a customer – ‘‘accepting that this change would most likely improve your winnings from us than earlier arrangements we suggested.’’
Patrick said he believed the TAB’s bookies did a good job, given the information they had access to, but there was simply not enough liquidity in the pools for them to always trade their way out of a big bet. Pool sizes here ranged on average between only $10,000 and $20,000.
And while the betting rules allowed for the TAB to lay off bets with other wagering operators, the ability to do so was very limited and only on a few major races, he said.
Offshore bookmakers opened their odds on domestic New Zealand harness meetings only 15 minutes before the race and did not accept layoff bets from the NZ TAB because their pools were also too small and they could not trade their way out of big bets.
‘‘A number of clients exercise their option to bet in other jurisdictions. But we would prefer that did not happen, without the industry getting an appropriate fee.’’
BEIRNE SAID he was not intimidated by threats in the letter that the TAB’s ‘‘generous’’ offer would be withdrawn if he didn’t keep it confidential. ‘‘I never agreed to keep anything confidential.’’ If, however, they could reach a mutual agreement, he understood confidentiality would be expected.
Beirne, who imports cars and races horses under the banner of his holding company, Small Car World, said he loved the punt.
He had never taken a Lotto ticket, did not go to casinos and never bet on anything other than harness horses.
‘‘I win, I lose, but I love the challenge of betting. When Kate’s First won the Auckland Cup and everyone was coming up to congratulate me, the first thing I wanted to do was look in my pocket to see if I’d struck the trifecta. But I missed it. I backed my other horse Anvil Vance (fourth).’’
Revelations that the TAB is clamping down on its successful punters follows recent news that Racing NSW had moved to stop corporate bookmakers there from refusing to accept bets from winning punters.
From September 1, bookies with turnover of more than $5 million will have to bet a punter to lose $2000 at a city meeting and $1000 at provincial and country fixtures.
Bookmakers with less than $5 million turnover will have to bet their customers to lose $1000 on all thoroughbred meetings.