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BOS magazine Provided by: MannyBernstein Eden Bookmakers Austin Carney TVC Bookmakers' Trade Fair CONTENTS ISSUE 211 Page 2-3 A WORD - OR SEVERAL - OF THANKS Editors Comments BOS Magazine is back. clear to us that the Now, here we are. And Page 4-5 It’s been nine months only way we could we would like very Eden Bookmakers & New TV since the final print continue as the voice much to state our Channel edition, the Novem- of the independent appreciation for the Page 6-7 ber/December 2015 bookmaker would be support of BOS issue, went out, 34 find someone with the Magazine from Don Austin Carney years after its debut. financial backing and Noble/Manny Bern- Page 8-9 Due to the rising costs technological stein, particularly Rich- John Bickell, Winning Post of printing and post- knowhow we didn’t ard Noble and & SIS Leadership age, the idea had been possess. Tony Nicholls, along to relaunch as a purely In early July, my with Adam Williams Page 10 online publication husband Chris and I for his IT expertise. Moore’s Ascot Masterclass & sometime in the were invited to Market We’re not exagger- SIS in Sri Lanka spring. Some minor Rasen racecourse for ating when we say we setbacks and what Page 11-33 the annual meeting truly couldn’t have might be termed in sponsored by Don done it without you. Trade Fair Advertisers modern Noble Bookmakers. We (and various articles) parlance as ‘logistical The subject of the fu- couldn’t. Thank you. challenges’ meant a Page 20-24 ture of BOS came up in launch date kept casual conversation, Trade Fair Catalogue getting delayed. which led to a pro- MARY PITT Page 34-36 We couldn’t take it on posal, followed by a Editor The Strange Case of the by ourselves. It was plan. Secret Office Page 36-37 Gambling Commission News Page 38-39 Betting Shop Manager of the Year & Chris Pitt Book Review Page 40-41 SP Racing & Betway Sponsorship Richard Noble and Tony Nicholls on Don Noble Race Day at Market Rasen http://bos.mannybernstein.co.uk BOS Magazine - September 2016 Page 2 EDITOR’S COMMENTS WE’RE BACK. There’s been a lot should be emphasised whenever ers opt to completely get rid of going on in our absence. In August the subject of betting shops in a racing in their shops? Doubtful. it was reported in the Racing Post particular locality comes up, along But scale down or deemphasise that Boylesports are interested in with cultivating good relationships coverage? Maybe. purchasing all 360 (or thereabouts) between local councils and locally BETFRED’S EXCLUSIVITY to shops likely to be sold off as a con- owned and operated betting run the tote ends on July 12, 2018. dition of the Ladbrokes – Corals shops. From then, anyone can set up a merger. The Competition and Mar- APRIL 1, 2017 still appears to be pool betting operation with per- kets Authority approved the mer- the target date for the levy re- mission from the Gambling Com- ger subject to around 350 to 400 placement and/or reform, but mission. That date will be here be- shops being unloaded first. Boyles- there seems to be a decided lack fore you know it, and racing is al- ports has stated their intention to of activity on that front. ready exploring its options as re- buy all the available shops. Even if a levy replacement gards operating its own tote ser- Wouldn’t it be better if at spells the end of the BHA’s Author- vice. The idea of a racing operated least some of those shops were ised Betting Partner policy, the tote has already been proposed, offered to small independent ramifications are still likely to re- with betting shops and online chains or individual operators? verberate for some time. Book- bookmakers seen as key players in This very idea was suggested by makers are turning to other sports, providing the distribution. Exotic Star Sports supremo Ben Keith in such as darts, snooker and foot- wagers are seen as instrumental to his blog post at the end of May. ball, for sponsorship deals. To pile any tote success, with the concept Cities and towns are con- on the clichés, racing just might of a big win for a small outlay likely tinually discussing how to revive find it has not only shot itself in to appeal to casual punters and customers more used to playing their high streets and how to en- the foot and is missing the boat, courage more small local inde- but they may see their sponsorship the lottery. pendent businesses to fill their va- opportunities sail away over the It would need most, if not cant shop fronts. Why shouldn’t horizon and never come back. all, racecourses and a large seg- this include independent book- ACCORDING TO Bill Barber’s ment of the betting industry to co- makers? column in the Racing Post back on operate to make it a success. Con- So many times we’ve gone May 19, betting shop picture rights solidation will be vital in order to into small independent betting payments have become the largest provide enough liquidity to make shops and found a real community single income source for British the operation viable and competi- atmosphere, with staff who know racing from the betting industry. tive, and also to share the technol- their customers well and look after The government has said it would ogy and implementation costs. The them, to the point of enquiring take media rights payments into involvement of and costs to inde- when they don’t see them in the consideration when setting the pendent operators must also be shop on a regular basis, or even rate for the proposed levy replace- taken into consideration. visiting them if they’re in hospital. ment. Costs to bookmakers contin- ue to escalate, so could bookmak- It’s this social aspect that Mary Pitt http://bos.mannybernstein.co.uk BOS Magazine - September 2016 Page 3 Eden Bookmakers’ Fleet of Shops THERE’S A ‘to do’ list on the back within the town comes from a near- wall of the counter at Eden Book- by Coral shop and a Betfred further makers’ shop in Fleet. It encom- along the high street. passes all the small but vital jobs Concessions offered include that need to be done before open- treble the odds Lucky 15s, double ing for business, such as making sure result, guaranteed odds and round- betting slips and pens are out, ing up forecasts and tricasts. putting up newspapers, and cleaning “We do a lot, we always FOBT machine screens each morn- compete,” says Mark of their offers. ing. “Our opening hours vary from shop John Eden would have recog- to shop. The earliest we open any- nised the first two of those when where is nine and the latest we close establishing the firm in 1969, but is nine-thirty. We’re shut on Sunday he’d have been scratching his head evenings.” over the third item. “What’s a Late last year Eden Bookmak- FOBT?” he may have queried. Mark Eden ers signed a four-year agreement Sadly, John passed away in Mark, 52, deals with the accounts with SG Gaming as its sole machine 1993, several years before FOBTs while Chris, 47, handles the staffing provider, replacing Eden’s previous made their betting shop debut. The side. The brothers came into the supplier. Mark has nothing but business is now run by his sons Mark business via widely differing routes. praise for their new supplier, com- and Chris Eden. Their mother Carole, When Mark left school he menting that he’s been “massively John’s widow, the matriarch of the served an apprenticeship as a test pleased” with the arrangement. organisation, is now retired but re- technician with electronics firm “SG Gaming had all the staff mains a partner in the business. Racal. Having spent six weeks work- in, trained us on the machines, and John Eden worked for account- ing in the factory, he decided it was- we’ve had loads of promotions. The ants Price Waterhouse before leav- n’t for him and went into the fami- service is good and you can rely on ing and joining the William Hill or- ly’s betting shop business. them,” he says. ganisation. When Hills gave him a Chris’s apprenticeship was of Eden are equally enthusiastic ‘take it or leave it’ choice of travel- a very different type. He went to the members of the Bookmakers Tech- ling around the country opening British Racing School and joined Paul nology Consortium. “It’s well worth new shops; he opted to leave it. Kelleway’s Newmarket stable with it,” affirms Mark. “It saves you mon- After a short spell in supermarket aspirations of becoming a jockey but ey – it’s worth the amount of money cleaning he acquired a shop owned weight got the better of him. He you save just on football coupons by independent bookmaker York’s in then spent a year in Australia, came alone – and the actual system is Sandhurst. He eventually obtained a back and joined the family firm. better, cheaper and more up-to- second shop, in the Hampshire vil- Chris’s horseracing ambitions date.” lage of Hartley Wintney, some five had been fuelled by their elder They are, however, keeping a miles to the west of Fleet. brother Grant Eden, now 56, who watching brief with regard to the At the time of John’s death, was formerly a trainer in Newmarket BTC’s recent ground-breaking media Eden Bookmakers comprised just but suffered serious injuries in a car rights deal with The Racing Partner- those two premises but there has crash that kept him out of the sport ship, which will see pictures from been a gradual expansion over the for a few years.

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