The Punters Verdict Scam-busting Guide: Five steps to Spotting a Con

Transcription

1 The Punters Verdict Scam-busting Guide: Five steps to Spotting a Con Hello friends and fellow punters! I am The Judge self-appointed guardian of the betting industry. Dedicated to exposing the shams, lies and con-tricks that stain the industry. This simple five-step guide will help you steer clear of the shysters and the traps they set. But before we start, I d like to start out by drawing your attention to one or two facts that might surprise you Sports betting continues to grow Gambling has grown massively over the last 15 years both in terms of the amount bet and in terms of the number of punters getting involved and it continues to grow year-on year. Figures collated and released by the Gambling Commission in 2014 tell us that during the period April 2013 to March 2014, the British gambling industry, as regulated by the Commission and excluding the National Lottery, generated a gross gambling yield of 6.8bn, an increase of 6% - that s almost 389.5m when compared with the previous year. Sportsbetting actual bets on sports events as opposed to wagers on bingo, casino games and the like enjoys a 47% share of that particular pie. As an industry sports-betting shows no sign of slowing or receding and a continuing flow of new players, new vendors, new products and a vibrant supporting industry offering technology, data, information, advice and tools for both backers and layers seems set to ensure that the growth continues unabated into the future.

2 The point I m making is this: betting activity in the UK involves an awful lot of people and an awful lot of money. Phenomenal money. This money is the booty that bookmakers and punters wage war over. The bookies make the markets and set prices Punter s back their opinions Events unfold And the spoils are landed by whoever calls it right. Overall it s the bookmaking industry that wins and hauls off the lion s share of the money. But individual punters can and do win their own personal battles with the bookmaker and the rest of the market. If he knows his enemy The men in the shadows There s another set of players who take an interest in the betting game neither bookies, nor punters. But a different breed They stand on the periphery. They watch from the sidelines. They occupy the ground on the edge of the playing surface. This group see the cash sloshing around in the betting game and they fancy grabbing themselves a share. Now, some of these guys are straight up. They have a genuine desire to help the punter in his battle with the bookmaker. They provide a credible service that delivers real benefits and charge a fee. That s fair enough - a fair exchange of values. Plenty of punters need help. Most work, raise families, run homes and all the rest of it. They don t always have the time to do the groundwork, the thinking, the number crunching. Instead they look to delegate. They try to find someone who does have the time to do the spadework and who will share the fruits for a price. Many punters are happy to pay someone to do the spadework, or share their expertise for a price. Others are happy to pay for an effective betting system. Or books and materials containing guidance which benefits their betting activity and improves their experience. And there s no problem when the tipping services, the systems, the books, the materials and the information concerned are well-produced

3 and effective providing the punter with a genuine, well thought out service or product that actually delivers tangible benefits in the form of profits and/or education. When the problem arises The problem arises when the horse tipping service you re paying for is costing you a fortune in subscription fees, hasn t given you a winner in three weeks and won t take your calls when you want your money back The problem arises when the foolproof system you ve paid for doesn t actually work in practice The problem arises when the Betfair Trader s Blueprint you ve paid 99 for reads like it was written by a 12-year-old and consists of nothing more than an extended advertisement for a bot The problem arises when you realise you ve handed your money over to a shark of one form or another and that you ve been done like a kipper The harsh reality For every bona fide tipster, for every decent and profitable betting system and for every decent service out there in the marketplace there are literally dozens of sharks you just wouldn t want to be handing your money over to. I m thinking of the internet racing tipster who charges 50 per month for 8/11 shots any fool could pick out. I m thinking of the hastily cobbled together betting system that will provide a 100% guaranteed regular betting income but doesn t in case you were wondering. I m thinking of the big name racing tipster who spends 5 minutes telling you what he s had for breakfast when you call his 1.50 per minute premium rate telephone line before handing out another set of dog rough selections nice work if you can get it I m thinking about the book that sounded so amazing in the promotional pack you stumped up 35 for advice consisting of little more than back top weights in handicaps.

4 I m talking about the racing lay tipster whose methods turned out to be his psychic powers. dozens of punters had been paying him 30 per month some for over a twoyear- period. At some time or another we ve all had a bad experience with one of these shysters the king of the tipsters The system that hasn t had a losing bet in 2 years The manual the professionals swear by The problem is that we only saw the rip-off, the con, the lies, the fraud and the fabrication AFTER it had been perpetrated by which time we were already licking burnt fingers, nursing our wounds and counting the financial cost of our association with the wrong crowd. We only saw the shark after he d taken a bite. Go on to betting forums like Punters Lounge or the Betfair Forum. Read about some of the experiences punters have had with tipsters, systems, services and products being peddled on the Internet, in newspapers, magazines, on TV and through the post. For every story you hear about there s another hundred you don t. For every outraged punter who airs his grievances in public on the Internet there are probably thousands who don t. I ve seen the stories. I take a strong personal interest in the details. I look into things. It s what I do. And, in the course of my work, I ve seen and heard enough to know one of two things: either the shysters are remarkably clever or much of the betting public is remarkably dumb. Shark spotting made easy On reflection, I suspect the answer lies somewhere in between. As punters we sometimes don t help ourselves. We take a chance on a tipster or a system and we pay our money. now and again we find a gem more often than not we ve been spanked on the deal. If it happens once you can stand it. But that really is once too often. Ideally, you want to be aware you re being taken for a mug before it happens. So how do you spot a wide boy at work before he s sold you a lemon for 200? How do you spot a dodgy tipster at work before you ve paid him 135 over four months and lost 640 backing his trackside whispers? How do you spot rubbishy products and services before you own them?

5 The answer is simple Just apply this five-point test to see whether the people behind services are saints or sharks Point one: Results Never mind the marketing spiel. Don t pay any mind to the attentiongrabbing headlines and the big claims in bold 32 point type. Don t get sucked into the bullshit. Whenever you come across a new tipping service or some guy flogging the next win-a-million betting system just take a step back from what he wants you to look at his product and all the fancy claims he is making for it and focus your mind on one word and one word only - RESULTS. The final word in any service Results should be your number one concern when it comes to figuring out whether or not a tipster, a system or any other kind of betting service is straight-up or not. A tipster who doesn t publish the profit and loss performance of his selections probably has something to hide and we can already chalk up one big red exclamation mark after his name. Wealth warning: Why wouldn t a tipster post his results in a publically accessible location? Why wouldn t he? He wants us to believe he s pretty damn good at picking winners. What better way of convincing us than by publishing his results either on the Internet or in some printed form and letting his magnificence ring out from the rooftops? Could it be that the results he s achieved maybe aren t the best advert for the service? More than likely. If the tipster or anybody else making claims about the financial performance of a betting service cannot point you towards results then alarm bells should start ringing! There are only two reasons why a service would refuse to provide details of results: 1. Results have been poor

6 2. There are no results because there is no service. In these instances tipsters will just snaffle your up-front subscription fee and do a runner. Demand to see the evidence Oh, they ll come up with all kinds of excuses and fairytales. But the bottom line is this if the service doesn t provide an area where results can be accessed, analysed and verified then you don t want to be dealing with the service. End of. Wealth warning: Also be careful with any service that offers access to results but only once you re a paid up member. You want to be able to check results of a service out in advance. Once you ve parted with cash it s too late to find out that the selections of the tipster or the results of the system are fouling up big time. And, even where results are reported, it pays to approach with caution and check what goes on with a service. Most services have an Internet presence so checkout what happens on there. Are results current? Are they updated frequently enough? Or do they only get updated when the service has had one or two recent winners enabling it to disguise or divert attention from what is generally bad news? Go back through the results archive. Spot check a few of the racing tipster s picks. Make sure his selections actually ran on the day, at the price advertised. Sharks are more sophisticated than you might think. They will go to any lengths to keep existing customers onboard and to attract new blood even if it means concocting a fictitious service history. Not many people ever really look at these things in detail and that s what the shark pins his hopes to. Demand to see the proof Wealth warning: Finally, does the service proof its selections? In other words does the tipster send his tips to a third-party before off time so that his claimed performance levels can be verified independently? If so then you have another avenue of inquiry you can pursue. A long, independently-proofed, track record of performance is indicative of a service you can trust. And the better the results, the better the service. Obviously, when a service has been around for a protracted period of time it tends to suggest the service is doing something right. Ripped-off

7 customers don t tend to stick around long. They quickly move on. Sharks only have small windows of opportunity to fleece clients before disappearing in a puff of smoke and reappearing somewhere else as an entirely different service. That s how they work. So, whilst a service being new isn t necessarily a sign of shark activity all services have to start somewhere after all it does pay to treat new tipsters and new betting service providers with additional caution until they have proved they are fit for associating with. You don t want to be the first sap to fall for the shark s latest venture. And even if the new service is totally legitimate, do you really want to be its test-crash-dummy? Let someone else pay to do the finding out. So, to recap, before you do anything else with a new tipster or service ask yourself: 1. Are there results? 2. Are they authentic? 3. Are they proofed by a third party? Any service that meets this initial criteria is worthy of further consideration. Any service that does not measure up to Point 1 or Point 2 should be pushed away with somebody else s bargepole. Point two: What does it smell like? Only after point one has been satisfied should you concern yourself with anything else the tipster or service provider might have to say. But it helps if you ve got a pretty good bxxxxxxt detector handy and make sure it s fully charged up. Wealth warning: In my experience there is a direct correlation between the hoopla on which a service is sold and the ultimate reliability of that service. If you can spot blatant out-and-out BS in the sales material, the chances are you re looking at a service that is being sold on sensation, hyperbole and lies because it lacks any real substance. I made 135,000 last year using my system and I never did more than 5 minutes work per day. When you use my mind-blowing methods you will be staggered at the sheer volume of profits you will bank every day of the year. That sports car you fancy it will be yours. Those mortgage

8 repayments gone forever. That lingerie model you think is pretty yours for the taking my amazing system will change your life. Do you recognise guff like this? I don t doubt you read stuff like this on a weekly basis. We almost become immune to it. But imagine if you were not reading the words, but actually listening to somebody say them Be honest. If you were standing with some guy at bar and he actually spoke those words to you, I m pretty sure you d be edging away wondering if he was a nutter, a fantasist, someone who thinks you re an idiot - or a combination of all three. Wealth warning: Treat marketing hype the same way you would if the words came tumbling out of someone s mouth. If someone talks daft we avoid them. I advise you to stick to the same formula when taking a stance on what someone is presenting to you in their marketing literature. Point three: Is your man prepared to back himself? A decent service is willing to prove its quality and that it can deliver on the promises with a castiron, no-questions-asked guarantee. When a service fails to provide a guarantee what it is really saying is that it is not confident it can back up whatever claims it spouted in order to get you onboard. By the same token is the tipster or service provider you are looking at prepared to give you a free no-obligation, no-strings-attached trial? Is he prepared to let you look at the service and try it out before you have to put your money down? Wealth warning: Free trials are commonplace these days and services which don t offer them are likely to be unsure of their own quality. And if they are unsure, so should you be. Point four: Do the due diligence Now get your police hat on and do the due diligence uncovering what is already known about a service and the people behind it. The Internet is your best friend when it comes to this job.

9 Wealth warning: Type the name of the service or the person behind it into Google. Better still, type the name followed by the word: SCAM and see what you get. See what other people are saying about their experiences with it. Go onto betting forums like Punters Lounge or the Betfair forum and see if there are any clues there. Better yet post a question and ask people to post what they know or any relevant feedback. The less you see in print the better. Once a shark has been in action for a while you do tend to start hearing about it on the Internet if you re actively looking. Multiple bad reports tell you everything you need to know. Point five: Can you get hold of this guy in an emergency? Finally, can you get hold of the guy behind the service you re considering subscribing to? Genuine services tend to be open about who is behind the service, where they are operating from and are content to provide a street address, phone numbers, and the rest of it as part of a basic customer service function. And by all means check out the lines of communication. Call and ask questions - the response you get will help you make up your mind what type of service you re dealing with and whether or not you d be comfortable handing money over to them. Sharks, on the other hand, seek to operate anonymously and provide only an address or a pay-as-you-go mobile phone number a phone they only answer if and when it suits them. Wealth warning: Service operators who hide do so because there are times when they really do not want to be found. Take the hint and leave them well alone. And that s all there is to it Just these 5 simple tests quickly establish whether or not a service you re looking at is fit for purpose: 1. Can you look at authentic results? 2. Does what you are being told smell right? 3. Do you get a guarantee and a free trial? 4. Does the due diligence deliver a clean bill of health?

10 5. Can you get hold of the people behind the service if you need to? Any service that falls down on these standards should be viewed with outright suspicion at best and should probably be avoided completely. You have been warned! The Judge