Concerned About Betway Racing Sponsorship/Publicity

[Corner]

As a horse racing fan I am deeply concerned about the recent appearance of Betway as a major sponsor of UK horse racing, including at the flagship Cheltenham festival. Betway now advertises daily in the Racing Post and their odds are included in the "Pricewise" feature for big races.

My personal experience of this bookie was 8 years ago, and would come under the "satisfactory" label - I had no problems myself, and when I heard of other people experiencing problems I was lucky to have no money in there at the time and I simply stayed away. I am aware that there have been some horrific stories of balance confiscations and accusations of breaking unusual and restrictive T&Cs in the past.

I have had Betway red listed on my own website since I started it in 2009. I'd like to know if people think that is justified, and if I would be justified in writing to the Racing Post and informing them of the past record of this bookmaker.

Has Betway changed? Do people have good experiences of using them or are they still rogues trying to look like something else?

 

[Trevrizent]

I've never had an account with Betway for the reasons you've outlined above - in short I have zero confidence in them. That was the case half a dozen years ago and it's still the case today. They may have cleaned up their act - I don't know - but a recent thread on here suggests to me that their customer service and responsible gambling policy still leave a great deal to be desired (they are also, as I'm sure you know, still on the BMR Red List). Unfortunately it appears that others in the sport of horse racing are either unaware of our reservations about Betway or else simply do not share them.

 

[Corner]

Yes, what concerns me is that by sponsoring the Queen Mother Champion Chase (it was a preview of that race in this morning's Racing Post which triggered my post here), it will give uninformed punters the impression that this is a respectable bookie. Other bookmakers that sponsor races at Cheltenham this year are Coral, Ladbrokes, Betfred and Stan James. I find it impossible to add Betway to that list without feeling uncomfortable about it.

 

[yourmum]

They were extremely dodgy a few years back and were confiscating funds using some very rogue bonus terms which I believe were changed within the last 2 years. They do still have some major issues though - they regularly put up bad lines and have a tendency to cancel bets (whether these are just the bad line bets or others I'm not entirely sure).

Unfortunately there is no way of us stopping sponsorship of events regardless of how bad a company is. Even if the event holders are aware of bad business practices, if they are offering more money than someone else to sponsor an event then they are going to accept it.

Bet butler sponsored various events and even a football team, despite the UKGC knowing there was problems financially with the company. I'm sure they could easily have blocked some of their advertising to stop punters being scammed but of course they did nothing.

We live in a world of greed and when a large sum of money is offered for advertising / sponsorship then the majority will turn a blind eye to reputation + ethics etc...

 

[Trevrizent]

Sad, but so very true. If the sums involved are large enough, then turning a blind eye to their source becomes simply all too convenient.