Is YOUR money safe?

As promised, a guest contributor tonight. Most people who read the comments section will have seen the thoughts regularly left by Andy, and I must say that his outlook on gambling is admirable. He is obviously someone who gives great thought to his investing, is focused on the long term, and is prepared to be patient with his services.

Andy has raised an issue that I must admit, I hadn't really given any great thought to. Reading what Andy has written, perhaps it's time I did...

Tonight (12th April) i saw a thread on the SBC forum where one member has expressed concern about the website outage of Pinnaclesports. He is rightly a little worried, as in the past he experienced a site go bust. I don't think this will be the reason in this particular case, but it is possible.

It brings me to an area of discussion where i hope to provide useful thoughts.

When the banks in the UK were going through the beginning of the rough patch, many people were worried that they could lose their money. I think now the government have guaranteed everyone will have personal savings secured to the sum of £50,000. What about the money we have in bookmakers accounts? How much of our money is guaranteed to be safe?

I don't actually know what would happen to my money in the event of the bookmaker going bust. I haven't looked into it, but there are ways to safeguard ourselves.

Those of you who (like me) may only have smaller banks might not worry so much at one bookmaker going bust, but those with larger banks might.

This is what i do..

At the beginning of each month i work out how much money i may need in the account for betting over the next 2 weeks. For example, if i have account with "Expekt", which i only use for a couple of bets each week, then i will only have a small amount of money in the account to cover the predicted amount of bets. If they lose, it is easy enough to transfer more money into the account.

I let all moneys sit in every bookmaker account until the end of the month. At the end of the month, if the total amount in that account is more than i might need for the next 2 weeks then i will withdraw everything over that amount. That way i can either have it sitting in my moneybookers account, or even better, taking it one step further and withdrawing it from moneybookers into my bank account, where it is guaranteed safety and will accumulate interest.

I hope this of some help to any of you. Also it would be good hear other peoples activities/thoughts on the matter.


I have my own thoughts on this which I will share tomorrow. In the meantime may I say thankyou to Andy for bringing this subject up and for going through his solution to a problem that could affect us all. Much appreciated.


Today's Action

One of those days, today. Seven services in action and only one, PJA NH, providing any sort of meaningful profit.

PJA's winner (Pickworth - Southwell - 8/1) generated a decent profit as it added to three other selections (from seven) that placed. A few more days like this are needed from this service.

The only other service to produce any sort of return was Northern Monkey whose only selection placed. ProBandit bombed out, the only On The Nose tip finished out of the frame, and Chasemaster managed to get one from two in the frame but not at a price long enough to give much back.

PJA NH: Staked 4.5pts, +2.525pts.
Northern Monkey: Staked 0.5pts, +0.188pts.
Chasemaster: Staked 0.75pts, -0.235pts.
On The Nose: Staked 1pt, -1pt.
ProBandit: Staked 1.75pts, -1.75pts.
Financial loss on the racing of £69.84.

Not much to say about the sports; Sportyy had two tennis picks which failed to win and the one The Football Analyst selection finished as yet another draw.

Sportyy: Staked £91, -£91.
The Football Analyst: Staked 1pt, -1pt.
Total loss on sports of £191.

Wednesday 13th April: Staked £446, -£260.84.
Week to date: Staked £902.50, -£7.66.
Month to date: Staked £6,519.50, -£1,124.10, roi -17.24%.

Another very bad day. There have been far too many of them in 2011 so far.