Brighton punter banned from bookies for winning too much
2 mins readA gambler claims he has been banned from William Hill bookmaker for winning too many times.
Disgruntled John Harrison, a 56 year old Brightonian, was a regular patron of William Hill’s London Road branch in Brighton until he received a letter forbidding him to return to any of the company’s shops across the UK.
The letter, entitled Trading Review Notice, was sent on May 19 and states that he “should not seek to enter our premises or attempt to place bets in them” or “seek to contact any William Hill Organisation staff” following on from “a review of [William Hill’s] trading agreements”.
It goes on to say: “In the event that this notice is breached and you succeed in gambling with us, we reserve the right to make any such bets void”.
Bookies “don’t want winners”
Mr Harrison believes that he has been banned because he was making too much profit on his gambling.
Speaking to The Argus , Mr Harrison said: “I used to be a mug gambler, giving away my wages every week. But it’s only since I’ve become good at what I do on horses and dogs that I’ve been told I’m not allowed back in the shop.
“They don’t want winners. I’ve done nothing wrong apart from showing a consistent level of profit through my betting and they don’t like that.”
Rise of the machines?
The irritated punter lamented the “arcade” style of many bookies nowadays and said that they encourage players to gamble on Fixed Odd Betting Terminals (FOBTs) rather than the races.
“That’s why they don’t take bets anymore”, he said, “They’d rather people waste their wages on the machines than take normal bets on the football, horses or dogs.”
Matt Zarb-Cousin, of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, supported this statement by adding:
“Betting used to be the punter versus the bookie, but now bookmakers are fixated on FOBTs: fixed margin casino machines where, in the long run, the house always wins. “They don’t want anyone gambling with them who has a chance of even breaking even – let alone winning – which is why they place restrictions on over the counter bets, or ban winning customers”.
A spokesperson from William Hill denied the claims by saying that “it’s nothing to do with showing profit” and adding “Mr Harrison and his friends are not the type of people we want in our shops”.
