Mr. Kevin Murphy:

I will deal with the late bets issue first. There is an issue legislators must consider relating to what are called late bets and uncollected winnings. A late bet occurs when a bet is placed by a punter after the advertised off-time of a race. Despite the fact that almost all betting shops have the most technologically advanced EPOS, electronic point of sale, systems in their shops which print out the time the bet is placed by the hour, minute and second - this information is printed on the customer's receipt - the technology apparently does not extend to the rejection of late bets at the time the punter attempts to place them. This is very convenient for the industry, because the first time the punter knows that his or her bet of €2 or €10 is late is when they go to the counter to present their receipt and ask for their €22 winnings. They are then told the bet was late for payment, that they will not be paid any winnings and their €2 or €10 is returned. Their money will be repaid but they will not be paid any winnings. Interestingly, this phenomenon of punters not being paid on allegedly late bets appears to be particularly prevalent with bets placed on virtual racing.

The majority of punters lose. That is a fact. It was said in evidence last week that the off-course industry gives back approximately 87% of what it takes in. That is correct. However, that does not mean that 87% of the people who gamble in betting shops get their money back. In fact, the vast majority of that 87% goes to the people who are clever and know what they are doing.