When Punters Were Banned From Looking at Betfair on Course

Kingsley on SEN radio with racing.com. Segment courtesy of SEN x racing.com.

People ask me about my brother Sean a lot. The short answer is that he is a genius, and a lot of what I know about the gambling side of racing came from him. We punted together for years off the back of a model he built, first on track and then out of an office. The reason we ended up off track is worth telling, because when the exchange first arrived the authorities would not let us look at it on course. That sounds strange now, given where the exchange sits in the game.

Where I learned the gambling side

I worked for Sean as a bookie in my younger days. That is where the education started. He then went and worked for Mark Reed up in Darwin for a while, came back, and I think got his licence again. It was a long time ago now, so the order of it is a bit hazy. What is not hazy is what happened after that. We punted very successfully together off a model he developed, and we had some great times on track doing it.

It matters who you learn from. I did not learn punting from a book or from watching other people's tips land. I learned it standing next to someone who was betting his own money, with a method behind it, and who loved a punt probably more than I do. It is in the blood on our side of the family.

Why we left the racecourse

When the exchange first came out, the authorities did not want us looking at it at all. Not on course. So we made the obvious decision. We left the racecourse and worked together out of an office instead, and we kept punting successfully from there.

Look at where the exchange sits now compared with then. The thing we were told we could not even glance at on track became part of the furniture. That is the part I still find funny when I think back on it. The rule did not stop us betting. It just moved us to a desk.

The lesson in that

When something new turns up in this game, the first reaction is often to shut it out. The people running things are not always quick to see what a new source of information or a new way of betting will end up being worth. If you are waiting for permission before you take something seriously, you will be late.

The other lesson is about the model. Sean and I did not punt off opinions on the day. We punted off something he built, and we worked it together. Having a method meant it did not matter much where we sat. Track or office, the process was the same. That is why moving off course cost us nothing.

Eventually we went our own ways with our punting. He still goes hard and he is still betting up. That does not surprise me at all.

If there is anything to take from it, it is to get your method sorted first and worry about the setting second. A good process travels. Where you watch from is just detail.

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