Kieron Fallon
As predicted by the astute 'wit' on The Racing Forum, Keiren Fallon failed in his attempt to have his suspension from riding in Britain before he is tried on a charge of conspiracy to defraud, overruled in the high court. Fallon's legal team did not seek leave to appeal after the ruling and, depending on the outcome of his trial next year, it is now possible that Fallon, the six-times champion jockey, will never ride in Britain again.
The Sportsman
Adminstration usually spells the end for most businesses, but there's still hope for The Sportsman. Dermot Desmond, the Irish entrepreneur who owns London City Airport, Celtic football club, and Betdaq, is holding talks with gambling companies over a move to buy The Sportsman out of administration. His interest hinges on the possibility of generating revenues from the paper's website through bets. An executive close to the paper said: "Signing up a bookie is a prerequisite for Desmond if he is to pursue his interest in
Gambling Commission Licence Fees
This is a link to two consultation documents recently released by the
Department For Culture, Media And Sport and The Gambling Commission.
They say they are consulting existing and potential betting operators plus ''interested stakeholders'' (punters) in this area.
So, if you care about the future of www.backandlay.com - and competition online generally - I urge you to read the document, and make your feelings known before 13 October 2006.
Once The 2005 Gambling Act comes into force (currently due to happen in September 2007), the old £140/£20 renewal bookmakers' permits will be done away with and our company will have to hold a Betting Intermediary Licence.
My first impression is that the net application/licence/annual fees will come in at £9,882 + £12,733 = £22,615 for the first year and £12,733 a year thereafter.
We run a legal and licenced UK business off operating costs of around £5,000 a year so these new fees would increase our operating costs by up to 500% and drive us either out of business or, if we can find anywhere substantially cheaper, offshore.
If we are driven out of business, we shall mothball the company until such time as we can relaunch in a better trading environment, and return all account balances to existing accountholders, thus emptying the Clients Account.
I will also ensure we have no unresolved ante-post/In-Running/future event markets at such time as did this.
However, we won't be going quietly into the night.
As many of you will know, I've been expecting this and I shall fight these anti-competitive and inequitable proposed fees tooth and nail, and the more help I get the better,
It seems we fall into the category of ''up to £5 million a year [gross profit]'' but there's a lot of difference between an outfit making £4.99 million gross profit a year and a loss-making outfit like ours and I shall be making that clear in our submission.
I shall also make it clear that had this fee structure been in place in 1999, it is far from certain that Betfair, now the world's biggest online betting site, would have been able to launch in this country.
Betfair are a giant nowadays and would shed no tears for the demise of a small competitor such as us.
But, if they're honest, Betfair will acknowledge they were once a three-men-in-an-attic operation themselves and this fee structure is detrimental to online competition.
I shall also be holding up the present Levy Board fee structure as an example of a fair system,
The Levy Board charges UK gaming operators a fixed 10% of their gross profits from UK horse racing, with a sensible and affordable minimum payment of £2,000 a year.
This means the likes of us pay £2,000 a year until such time as our horseracing gross profits exceed £20,000, while the likes of Ladbrokes etc. make a substantial payment.
That's fair, it's not anti competitive and it raises the better part of £100 million a year for the UK horse racing industry.
BBC
