BEST of the BETS

I don’t know if many people here bet in shops, but I had the misfortune of being in one of Ladbrokes shops this afternoon. After having a few losing bets, I finally managed to back a winner - £100 on Onassis @ 9/2 in 2:55 race. I thought that would be it, and I could collect and walk out as had other things to do. But, no, apparently Ladbrokes (and Coral, as it’s the same company) have a new policy that if anyone wins over £400 on horse racing in their shops then the staff have to get authorisation from other shops in area before paying out. I was told to wait some time so I did, but when I still hadn’t been paid after nearly an hour I questioned the staff and was told that other managers were busy and they were still waiting to be called back. So I called their customer services to see if they could sort it out, but was told that there was nothing they could do, it’s the company policy, it’s a lot of money blah blah blah, you will just have to wait till all the investigations are complete, and then they rudely hung up on me before I could respond. A lot of money? Investigations over £400?? How pathetic can this company get. Yet, they are quite happy to let people pump thousands into FOBTs, I don’t know why they still pretend to be a bookmaker. I was told by the girl in shop that not many people bet on horses anyway and I was the only one in their shop betting today.

It was 4:45 when I finally got paid, nearly two hours after I should have. Needless to say, I won’t be using one of their shops again and I am closing my online account with them (not that I use it a lot anyway, much prefer Betfair).