a question to the bookmakers

cant remember the exact figures,but when we got our breakdown from "sis" (we paid £12000 a year subs for pictures per shop)there was an amount set aside for south african racing pictures just say £700, considering there is 9000 betting shops in the uk all paying this subscription

This must add upto a tidy sum, any idea how much of this money filters its way back to south africa?

Also must say that south african racing was an after thought to most betting shop punters in the uk(was popular in the early days)and mostly passed over

TS you say:

"All betting on the tote (i.e. through Phumelela) on overseas racing (incl Zim,Kenya,Australia,Asia,Dubai,US, Scandinavian countries and the UK) are "counter-productive to the growth of the stakes pot" as it does not add value to the stakes pot for owners in Phumelela territory."

I have had a long discussion with Derek Brugman on Freeracer about this, very recently, and he confirmed that it is in fact added to the Phumelela stakes pot. Is there any way to confirm the actual situation?

I googled 'stakes agreement Phumelela Racing Association'.
This threw up a quote attributed to Colin Gordon, the one-time RA GM(?). There was no date on the document viewed.

It reads in part:
"The gross amount as per the stakes agreement with Phumelela (which is made up: 75% South Africans betting on local racing, 19% from turnovers on imported product, 2% from Soccer 6 and 1% of net profit from exported SA product) (...).
This seems to suggest that all income is taken into account, not just local horse racing, but there's no indication whether all income is treated in the same (%) way.

The search gave a host of other statements referring to the stakes agreement, mainly from 'official' sources. All it mentioned was a blanket amount, never the breakdown.

rather than trying to boycott or ban the open bet (after all, the legislation specifically permits it), surely it would be more productive from a stakes pot perspective to change the tax so that it replicates the stakes agreement. easier to achieve, too.

what i am suggesting is that the open bet should not be subject to 6% punter tax, but instead the bookmaker should pay 30% of his profit on open bets directly to stakes.

for that matter, why not have all fixed odds bets treated that way?

Greenbook, now you are starting to understand the problem. If we can do what you suggest, then the 30% that you say should apply to all bets, can probably be reduced to 15%.

Point 2. Bookmakers only deduct 6% from winning bets, whilst the tote deducts their takeout from the entire pool.

Point 3. Even after point 2 above, many bookmakers, choose to take bets "OFF the BOOK" which further reduces their contribution to the stake pot.

In a perfect situation your suggestion in theory is what is needed.