The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP is our beloved government's Minister for Culture (her estranged partner is the Rt Dodgy David Mills - Berlusconi's buddy). Below is an open communication regarding her avowed aim to make Britain the cleanest gambling environment on the planet.
"Having observed your recent comments relating to gambling legislation in the UK, I wish to share some key points that I believe are relevant to the current discussion.
In my view, regulating the gambling industry to protect the vulnerable and children is admirable but does not go nearly far enough in such a manipulative area of the economy. Below I have listed some points that should be taken into account with regard to different sub-sectors of the industry.
Online Casinos – Repeated research and statistical analysis has shown that online poker tables are generally corrupt. Why any individual would trust such a virtual game is quite beyond my comprehension. All companies should have to submit their software and gaming practices for independent external assessment.
Casinos – Operators do not allow winning clients. If one wins at blackjack via card counting, for example, you will find that no casino will admit you to their tables. Furthermore, it is very difficult to find poker tables that offer a level playing field. If clients are not able to win, we are effectively dealing with voluntary “taxation” here.
Traditional Bookmakers – Similarly, most traditional bookmakers do not allow winning accounts (I could paper the walls of my office with letters informing me that “it is not in our economic interests to continue offering you an account”). Some of the more enlightened market makers do allow winning accounts and treat such accounts as buying information. However, as gambling winnings are not enforceable under law, one has to build into one’s trading strategy an accommodation for non-payment of winnings at some point in the interaction.
Betting Exchanges – Although a great improvement on the traditional bookmakers, all of the betting exchanges scalp the prices offered to winning clients in real time.
Of significantly greater concern is the fact that conspicuous money can affect outcome in a wide range of sports. To professional traders like myself, we treat this as being part of the game (if one can put up with monopolistic abuse in trading mature financial markets e.g. oil and other commodities, we can put up with it in sports events!). But, for the leisure punter, this effectively represents a latter day form of highway robbery by the market makers and their associates.
To truly protect the vulnerable, the government must take a much more proactive approach. The benefits will be widespread. Criminals will be forced out of the sector; sports events will return to being competitive games as opposed to markets for financial manipulation; mug punters will sometimes even win! Anything less than a thorough and complete overhaul of the entire sector will merely be cosmetic window dressing."
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
