Thursday, 31st July, is Judgement Day

On Thursday, 31st July, judgement will be passed on the Judicial Review of the Levy Board's treatment of ''betting exchanges.''

A judgement in favour of the applicants will be of benefit to punters who use exchanges, as it would mean all Levy payments would be proportion of commission revenue-based.

This would remove a plank preventing downward pressure on commission rates.

The Horserace Betting Levy Board acted "unlawfully and unfairly" when it changed the rules to the disadvantage of internet betting exchanges, a High Court judge ruled on Thursday.

Mr Justice Hooper held that the board's decision was procedurally flawed and that it failed properly to consult all interested parties before introducing the 42nd Levy Scheme for 2003-4.

It was claimed that traditional bookmakers, who had a powerful voice on the board through the Bookmakers' Committee, had "carved out for themselves" a system under which part of their levy liability was shifted on to their betting exchange rivals.

Under earlier rules, exchanges paid 10 per cent of their gross profits, defined as income from the commission they charged customers on winning bets.

The new scheme, effective from April 1 this year, also requires exchanges to pay 10 per cent of profits made by winning "layers" - those who lay bets that a horse will lose - without any adjustment for losses made by losing layers.

The judge refused the board and the committee leave to appeal, but they are expected to apply to the Court of Appeal for leave.

That's great news Ian.

Exchange punters must feel like a child on christmas eve today. This news is great but even better awaits come the morrow when, according to my calendar, August arrives and, with it, the arrival of ********** and the dawning of a new era of paradise for punters:b :b :b :b

Just as a kid stays awake all night waiting for santa to arrive I'll be up during the early hours furiously pressing my refresh key on that splash page awaiting the magical moment.........

do u open tommorow ian ?

Toshiba Kid,

''Troll Featured Geek'' - whoever labelled a man whose features are surely as sharply-chiselled as his wit must be in need of a trip to the opticians - couldn't be rendering me more (admittedly sarcastic) PR assistance if he was on the team.

The bugs have been fixed, we can't find any more, hence, IMO, ********** is indeed ready to launch.

However, as I can just about change a light-bulb on my own, I've decided the most sensible person to make the call on when the site is ready to launch from a technical (rather than a functional) perspective is someone who is not me.

The techies are still doing ''database and web server-related optimisation tweaks'' (whatever those are) so I'm afraid there may be a little more time to wait yet before they give the green light.

Re today's judgement...

IMO, this welcome judgement reinforces the view that the proposed treatment of betting exchanges by the British Horseracing Board (due to take over from the Levy Board in September 2005) - namely to demand 10% of ''layers' profits,'' in addition to 10% of commission revenues - is anti-competitive in the extreme.

It is my understanding that the Office of Fair Trading will require a lot of convincing by the BHB, if they are to withdraw the Rule 14 notice they issued earlier in the year.

There's a long-drawn-out road of appeals and independent tribunals ahead, but the Budget decision on tax and this judgement are twin body blows by the legislature and the judiciary against the bookmakers and the BHB, and in favour of the exchanges' ''level playing field'' argument, which I have always believed to be a just one, regardless of my own vested interests.

With any luck, the OFT will eventually dismantle the BHB and ownership of race data will lie with racecourses.

59 racecourses competing with each other to sell data to betting operators can only lead to lower pricing of the data, and lower overheads for the betting operators who purchase that data.

And competition among the growing number of betting operators means these savings will inevitably be passed on to punters in the shape of tighter margins with bookmakers and lower commission rates at the exchanges - if, that is, punters are prepared to shop around and bet where, if odds are the same, commission rates are the lowest.

A happy day for the exchanges and a happy day for punters.

Talking of PR, I hope you won't be headhunting SO's head PR honcho Ian.

In their moment of triumph whose mug was splashed across the Racing Post article gatecrashing their party? Some guy working for an exchange that has driftwood running down the centre of the screen. It's beyond embarrassment...............

I must admit I had to smile when I saw the Racing Post article.

Kevin Griffiths was the hero of the hour, yet the Post runs pictures of a director of another exchange and a presumably pissed off member of the BHB executive.

Even betting exchanges who haven't even seen the light of day yet have long since given the Post a mug shot of their ugly front man.