The internet campaigner Paul Fairhead, who has been helping punters for seven years, says the frustrations are now too much
“My heart’s really not in it any more,” says Paul Fairhead, the internet campaigner for punters who has decided to bring that side of his working life to a halt. By his own estimate, he has helped punters recover more than £500,000 from bookmakers over the past seven years and The Guardian has sometimes reported on the outcomes of his cases but the work has got harder and he has begun to feel ground down.
“It’s far more frustrating than it ever was and a real different ball game,” adds Fairhead, who says the final straw was the failure of his appeal in the case of David Smith, a punter who cost himself £189,000 by writing Bailarico rather than Bialco. Fairhead felt Smith’s betting slip made it clear that Bialco was intended and had high hopes of an appeal to the Independent Betting Adjudication Service, but it was turned down.
Related: Talking Horses: Lucy Normile quits and predicts other trainers will follow
Tips by Chris Cook
Continue reading...