It's been a few weeks since the last newsletter and it's time to remind you what we at UK Horse Racing have been up to.
However, of great importance is the latest security news from Betfair which affects everyone who uses Betfair and will ultimately affect everyone who uses any betting exchange to back or lay any horse.
Since the last newsletter we have implemented a new set of ratings, called Trainer Recent Form.
These dislay the ratings of each trainer's current form. By 'form' we mean exactly what it says on the tin. The form of a trainer is how he normally performs and these ratings demonstrate how much the trainer has improved or worsened in the recent interval.
Therefore, we can see if a trainer has hit either a good run or a bad patch in recent weeks. But do consider that a good trainer out of form may still be doing a lot better than a poor trainer doing better than his normal form.
These form ratings have proved to very popular and have also have been integrated into the Ratings printouts.
We are still working on the possibility of adding the ratings of the Jockeys' Form. As expected this isn't turning out to be as easy to derive as the Trainer Form but we are still looking at the numbers returning from our Model and if the numbers do have some significance then we will release them later as well as place the information into the Model's ratings of the horse.
More news on this project in the near future.
We will be making a significant improvement to our Ratings data at the end of this month. The data will also be available in CSV format. This means that it will be easy to open or import into Excel or any database.
First of all we would like to express a Big Thank You to all of you that have subscribed to the Weak Favourites site.
We trust that each of you are happy with the results with the Lay-0s making a profit of 12 points and the Lay-1s making a profit of 28 points (as of the 3rd of October).
In this period of just over a month those of you who were laying to win £10 per bet, which is not an unrealistic figure, would have made £400 profit for a cost of £80 for three months subscription.
We have had a couple of teething problems but nothing major. One of the incidents which we had was that the web site couldn't be updated due to a fault at the web host. In that situation we sent out a mail to each of the subscribers with the selections for that day.
The other minor problem was that Mastercard, via PayPal, wasn't working for about a week. This turned out to be a problem with Mastercard thinking that we were setting up shop in the Middle East rather than in North Wales. As soon as we were able to point this out to PayPal the credit card payments were accepted once more.
We have been developing our National Hunt laying code over the past few months and we are installing it now. It would have been used for today's selections but due to a hardware failure the source code didn't get sent in time.
Therefore, the selections for the 5th of October onwards will include the National Hunt lays as well as the flat and the all-weather lay selections.
We would like to make it clear that all results are shown on the Weak Favourites's Results page. We don't hide nor manipulate any losing horses. We display them all, warts and all.
This means that you know that if you laid at SP all the selections which we have posted then you would have been forty points in profit. There are no losing horses missing from that list.
Now, when it comes to reporting losing horses we always report the SP price. There is no other fair way of doing this because we can't begin to guess at which price you would have laid at. There is one exception to our reporting rule; that is when the SP exceeds our value price.
In cases like this we report the losing horse's price as being the value price. Why? Because we make it clear that thorse is not to be laid at over the value price (actually it shouldn't be laid at any price close to the value price) as so since that no-one would have laid it at more than value then we report this loss at that price.
A case in point is the Lay-0 at Lingfield on the 18th of September. The horse was Stagecoach Ruby and we gave it as a Lay-0 selection. We gave the value price as being 10/1.
I laid it at about 13/2 and then watched the horse drift out past the 10/1 mark and then it set off at 12/1 and then, of course, it promptly went and won. Now, in this case, after much discussion on the UK Horse Racing chat page, we felt it was fair to give the losing price as 10/1 though we hope that no-one would have laid it at more than, say, 8/1.
We had a good look around at other sites to see what they did. Most sites don't actually record their losing horses; some don't even record their winners and leave the reader to guess at the accuracy of their claimed totals. One site in particular interested us. They said that they won't display any results of any horse which goes off at 10/1 or more.
Now, this is a little cheeky, if not downright dishonest. The horses which will do the most damage when laying them are the ones which drift out and then come in to win. So, saying that the horse whose price is 10/1 or over won't be recorded in the results is one heck of a kick in the teeth for those who have laid it at 13/2.
Be assured that all of our lay results are inclusive of all of our horses. So with our Weak Favourites you know what you are truly going to get.
The Weak Favourites' site is at www.weakfavourites.co.uk.
The following has been posted on the UK Horse Racing News page and is essential reading for anyone with an account with Betfair.
This important item affects Betfair subcribers only at the moment but we have been told that this will also be so for all of the UK and Irish based betting exchanges.
The following was taken from the Betfair site (28th September, 2004) and should be read by anyone who uses Betfair or any of the betting exchanges such as Sporting Options, BetDaq and the rest.
This will effect everyone which uses the exchanges and this should be acted upon instantly to prevent any problems with having the accounts frozen. This will affect everyone using the Weak Favourites service and a good proportion of the UK Horse Racing subscribers.
Betfair can be contacted by phone at:
From UK 0870 0110 444
Ireland 1-800 944 000
Australia 1-800 759 354
International 00 44 20 8834 8060
There are a couple of important items which are unclear in this message and we have contacted Betfair to clarify them. The clarifications which we would like to make are:
* The 14 day period which is mentioned is from the time that you are personally requested for your documentation and not 14 days of this general announcement.
* They need three items of information;
a photo-id,
proof of an address and,
proof of the account which is used with Betfair.
I failed my first document submission because I didn't send in a bank statement along with image of my debit card (I thought that one would suffice). One has to send in a recent bank statement regardless.
We have been told that they have already processed 45,000 of their customers.
Something else which I have heard does alarm me. I have heard of two people's accounts being suspended without them receiving the mail asking them to send in the particulars. Therefore, I would urge all Betfair users not to wait for the eMail to arrive but to start to gather their information and to send it off to them for immediate processing.
The announcement is reproduced below:
KYC Processes at Betfair
This is to inform you about some processes that Betfair are undertaking and what customers may expect in the coming months.
Know Your Customer
You may have seen recently press coverage and reports about a series of initiatives that we are undertaking in partnership with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Gamcare. We have in the past month signed the Betting Exchange Trade Association (BETA) Code of Conduct.
As a company, we pride ourselves that integrity and transparency are the cornerstones of our business. As part of the Code of Conduct, we are undertaking a series of checks on our customers. As you can imagine, as an online and telephone business, with large sums of money being exchanged, we have a considerable responsibility in combating fraud. In many ways, we act in the same way as any secure financial institution such as a bank, and it is critical that we can ensure that we know who is behind every account that is registered.
What this means for you:
In the coming months, we will be asking our customers to positively identify themselves to our Verification Team. This does not in any way affect your rights to confidentiality, or to your Opt-In status regarding Marketing or Promotional activity. We do however maintain the right to contact you regarding the handling of your account. It’s important to note that failure to comply with any element of our KYC policy may incur account suspension.
In the first instance this will involve confirming your name and address, your age and your contact details. This may be confirmed either on the website via the Log In Message board or by your telephone trader. Please take the time to confirm these details when they are requested: it is vital that we have correct contact details for every account.
The second stage of the process involves providing proof of Identification, Address and Source of Funds. This will be physical documentation, and it will need to be submitted to the Verification Team within a time limit. We will contact you in the first instance via our new Login Messageboard feature, which will appear when you logon to Betfair. We will confirm this request by email.
Please note: Failure to provide this information when requested could result in your account being suspended. Any suspended account can be quickly reopened once the required documentation is received.
We entirely appreciate that this will inconvenience you to some degree and, naturally, some customers may find this process intrusive. Please be assured however that all of this information is gathered in the strictest confidence and is not available to anyone outside of our Verification Team.
Your account and any information need only be verified once, and this verification will apply to any other accounts that you may hold with us. If you have other accounts linked to you, please make this clear to the Verification team when submitting your details.
While you have no obligation to provide this information until we request it, if you would like to minimise inconvenience, you are free to provide this information below now if you wish.
IDENTIFICATION TYPES ALLOWED
* Personal Identification – Photo ID required eg:
* Copy of Passport, Copy of Drivers licence (new version)
If no Photo ID available then a copy of an official document – Birth Certificate/UK Old style licence, Marriage Certificate etc.
* Proof of address
Copy of Utility Bill or copy of recent Bank Statement / Credit card statement showing residential address. Financial information may be blacked out but we need to clearly see the Name, address and account number
*Proof of source of Funds
Copy of front of a card used to fund account (Note for security you can black out main card number except for last 4 digits)
Copy of Bank Statement for the Bank account used to fund your Betfair account.
Copy of Credit/Debit Card statement used to fund account . Financial information may be blacked out but we need to clearly see the Name, address and account number
METHODS OF SENDING DOCUMENTS TO BETFAIR
Post:
Betfair Verification
Waterfront, Hammersmith Embankment
Chancellors Road
London, W6 9HP
United Kingdom
FAX:
UK: 0208 834 8011
Australia: 1- 800 –068593 (free fax line)
Other international +44 208 834 8011
SCAN and EMAIL;
kyc@betfair.com
Betfair Customer Services 24 Sep 16:16
Why are you doing this?
KYC identification is important for the protection of you, our customers, and the integrity of the exchange. Betfairs platform brings wagering unprecedented transparency and an unprecedented opportunity to uphold the integrity of sport and racing. Proper KYC procedures allow us to maximise both.
We have taken the step of signing a Code of Conduct with the government which mandates that we will carry out KYC checks. While it is a voluntary step for Betfair at this point it is almost certain that legislation will come into place at some point which will make this type of customer identification mandatory across the UK online e betting industry.
Do I really have to give you this information?
Yes it is a requirement that we collect this information.
What happens if I don’t give it to you?
Unfortunately we would be forced to suspend your account temporarily until we receive the documents. If you have no intention of sending the documents we will be forced to close your account and refund any current balance to you.
How long do I have to get this information to you?
You now have 14 days to supply the information. If we don’t have it by then we will be forced to temporarily suspend your account until they are received and validated.
Can I reactivate my account if it is suspended?
Your account will be unsuspended as soon as the documents are received. Please note that it may take up to a maximum of 48 hours to reactivate an account.
How do I know this call is real?
We are happy for you to call Betfair back on your usual number so that we can confirm the information we have just given you
What happens to the information I give you?
You’re just going to give this information to 3rd parties!
Your data is covered by both Betfairs privacy policy and by the UK Data Protection Act 1998. We are unable to give information to 3rd parties except under very specific circumstances such as a court order of under the bounds of a Memorandum of Understanding with a recognised sporting body.
I’m worried about security ?
How can I be sure no-one else will get my personal information ?
Faxes are not printed but are stored electronically on a secure server. Emailed documents are also stored on the same server which can be accessed only by the Betfair KYC team. Posted documentation is stored in locked cabinets in a secure room on the Betfair premises. We understand the customers concern about security and ensure that all communication is safe and sighted only by those in the verification team.
Yours sincerely,
The UK Horse Racing Team
NOTICE:
We at UK Horse Racing take your privacy seriously. We have a strong policy of not handing over our address list to anyone at anytime. We suppose that if the police came bursting through the door with a warrant and a brace of half-starved alsations then we may have a sudden and inexplicable change of heart. But, understand that otherwise we won't give away, sell, loan or whatever to anyone your e-Mail address. In addition you have received this message because your address was placed on our mailing list. If you don't wish to receive any more communications from us then please return this message back to us and we will, via the link below, remove you from the database and you won't be bothered ever again.
Internal Use: Remove This User