Over The Line

If you backed Just An Ace to win the 3.40 Hereford you would have got no run for your money with other bookies as he refused to race, but because we’re nice guys, we’re refunding all bets on him.

Posted in Racing, Sportsbook, Justice Payouts | 3 Comments »

So let’s get this straight. It’s OK to invite a fat old man onto Strictly Come Dancing so that we can all laugh at him. But as soon as he starts winning the public over and is in with a chance of going all the way, he is somehow spoiling the integrity of the competition and making the whole thing ‘a joke’.

Posted in Sportsbook, Novelty, Justice Payouts | 7 Comments »

If sheer tenacity, bravery and spirit were worth points, Munster would have strolled to another famous victory over the All Blacks, but the awesome quality shone through in the end as Joe Rokocoko ended the dream at the death.

In acknowledgement of the tremendous Munster performance and to ease the pain of a heart-breaking defeat, we’re refunding just under €40,000 in losing match bets on the Red Army.

Posted in Sportsbook, Rugby, Justice Payouts | 10 Comments »

After his rise to the top was suddenly and spectacularly halted by Kiko Martinez last year, Bernard Dunne was trying to get his bid to land a world title back on track on Saturday night. He was taking on Cristian Faccio with more than one eye on a world title shot in the new year. It was all going along very nicely until the 8th round, when a clash of head caused the nasty little nick in the above picture. Rather than walk it off as most real men would probably do - only joking Bernard, don’t hit me - the fight was stopped and went to the scorecards before the scheduled end of the 10 round contest.

Dunne won on points, but in the interests of being fair to customers we’re paying out on Dunne to win in round 7 and on Dunne to win on points. We’re also refunding all other round betting/TKO markets.

On top of that we’re refunding all bets on Faccio, because although the scorecards didn’t look good, he still had a puncher’s chance of knocking out Dunne.

Posted in Sportsbook, Boxing, Justice Payouts | 3 Comments »

News has reached us that Ruud Van Nistelrooy will be ruled out for the rest of the season due to knee injury. We’ve got some good news and some good news. It turns out the vets have decided not to put him down and more importantly for anyone who backed him to the top scorer in the Champions League or La Liga, we’re doing the decent thing and refunding all bets on him in these markets.

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A friend of mine once fell off the bed during the early stages of a romantic liason. That kind of dented the atmosphere, but given it was post-several jaggerbombs in a nightclub, it wasn’t exactly right out of a Mills and Boon novel to begin with. After dusting himself down he remounted his conquest and expressed his love physically to her.

That story was a meandering link to Ryan Moore who was on board Worth A King’s in the 8.20 Great Leighson Thursday. With horse and jockey safely in the stalls, the 6/1 joint 3rd Fav reared up and unseated Moore. Obviously that meant Worth A King’s couldn’t win the race and punters didn’t even get a run for their money. In the interests on fair play, we’re refunding on Worth A King’s, treating it as a non-runner when plenty of other bookies call it a loser.

The same friend also fell asleep on a girl mid-romantic liason. But we can’t refund on that.

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Dohasa was 9/2 joint favourite to win the 1.50 Curragh, but not even a jockey with the talent of Johnny Murtagh could stay on board as he came out of the stalls. Dohasa reared up in the stalls, unseating Murtagh as the race got underway, putting paid to any chances the heavily-backed horse had of winning. That’s not fair to the customers who backed the horse and didn’t get a run for their money so naturally enough, we’re doing the decent thing and refunding all bets on Dohasa.

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The story of the crazy goal that never was and the bookmaker who took pity on the poor Watford backers.

We’re all aware that referees are ignorant, idiotic, blind bastards in black. If we are to believe the volleys abuse from the terraces and armchairs and wherever else groups of men gather to level abuse at the officiator of a game their team isn’t doing very well in. For who cares a jot about the man with the whistle when your team is cruising to victory?

It’s not an easy job and most of the time those poor solitary souls, with nothing more than some coloured cards and a small pencil to protect themselves, do a pretty good job, all things considered. However there are some mistakes which can’t be excused and last week we had two. First up was the completely innocent, though perhaps a little shifty looking, Michael Beauchamp getting the red card that should have been given to his team-mate Jakobsen in the closing stages of Aab Aalborg’s Champions League match with Celtic.

Then came the real shocker.

If you haven’t seen the Reading goal that never was but still earned them a point, check it out on Sky Sports news where it will be played several times an hour for the next few days. After the ball ricochets around inside the box for a minute or two, it is cleared by a Watford player. Play appears to be continuing when suddenly, on the advice of his linesman and to the amazement of every single person in the ground, the referee awards a goal to Reading. As the replay shows the ball did actually cross the end line, it just happened to be a good four feet wide of the goal when it did. An absolutely shocking piece of officiating. In fact it was so shocking that the bigwigs in here have given the okay to refund all losing match betting singles placed on Watford.

Will this be the final straw which breaks the back of whichever obstinate old camels in the FA that are opposing the introduction of video replays to assist referees in these big situations? Is video assistance the way to go?

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Having been backed in to 9/2 second favouritism, Gull Wing looked well set to be a factor in the Group 2 Park Hill Stakes. If the race had been over a distance of 1/100th of a furlong, then she would have been, but it wasn’t. Gull Wing left the stalls, but quickly after refused to race and stood watching as the others went on.

It’s a rough deal for punters, so it’s only fair that we’re refunding all bets on Gull Wing in the 2.00 Doncaster.

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The words ‘action-packed’ and ‘grand prix’ aren’t often seen in close proximity these days, but the closing stages of yesterday’s Belgian Grand Prix were verging on the insane.

After a hectic last couple of laps, Lewis Hamilton crossed the line first, well ahead of his nearest rivals, but the stewards didn’t like the passing move he made on Kimi Raikonnen towards the end of the race. Locked in a battle with the Finn, Hamilton cut a corner at the chicane, briefly taking the lead. Understanding that this would land him in trouble, he gave the position back, only to overtake Raikonnen on the start-finish strait.

It seems like they plucked the punishment out of the air, but the FIA bigwigs slapped a 25 second penalty on Hamilton thus handing victory to Felipe Massa of all people and demoting Hamilton to third.

It’s a rough deal for Hamilton backers so we’re doing the decent thing and paying out on both Massa and Hamilton as winners of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Posted in Sportsbook, Motor Racing, Justice Payouts | 1 Comment »