The world of professional gambling is secretive by design.
Successful punters find an edge wherever possible and seldom show their hand to rivals when they spot an opportunity to make a killing.
It is even rarer that the outside world gets the chance to penetrate the code of silence that governs this niche cadre of high-rollers.
That is why a court document, reported on Tuesday by the Guardian, is so unusual, in that it drags a dispute from a very private world into the public spotlight.
According to the filing, George Cottrell, a close associate of Nigel Farage and a key figure in Reform UK’s inner circle, effectively acted as a front for a major gambling syndicate controlled by Tony Bloom, the former professional poker player who owns Brighton and Hove Albion football club, by handing over control of betting accounts in his name.
A former associate of Bloom’s is bringing a claim against the billionaire, alleging that he is owed a share of the resulting profits, estimated to be in the region of $250m (£187m).
Bloom, who also holds stakes in the Belgian side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, the Scottish club Heart of Midlothian and Australia’s Melbourne Victory, has yet to file a defence to the claim.
The case appears to provide a glimpse at one corner of a parallel gambling sector entirely separate from the clutch of well-known brands such as Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Sky Bet, which collectively raked in takings of £12.5bn from UK punters last year.
Beyond this realm, industry sources and professional punters describe a broader shadow industry, a “wild west” in which betting accounts are bought and sold via messaging platforms for thousands of pounds, and where VIPs are directed to illicit offshore hidden sites that do not pay UK tax or perform anti-money laundering or responsible gambling checks.
With its own jargon and codes of conduct, this world operates outside the view of the Gambling Commission, the British regulator whose job it is to help prevent addiction and keep crime out of the industry.
One reason that this clandestine ecosystem exists is that successful gamblers, often described as “shrewd” or “sharp” punters, cannot get a big bet on with most major bookies, who have no obligation to accept bad business – ie a customer who wins.
Most operators deploy a tactic called “stake factoring”, a system documented by the Guardian in 2022.
When a customer opens an account, they might be given a stake factor of 1, meaning they can bet 100% of the normal maximum stake, for example £500.
The more they lose, the higher the factor will rise. If they win too often, their maximum stake is dialled down to zero, or negligible amounts.
Sometimes, say insiders, this is a response to a legitimate concern, such as suspicion that a sporting event is rigged, or that – for instance – a stablehand has inside information that a horse has gone lame.
Increasingly, however, professional punters have complained that bookies are simply shutting down whoever displays a talent for beating the odds.
This, in industry parlance, is known as being “chinned”.
They say affordability checks on punters, brought in to prevent vulnerable gamblers and addicts from losing their shirts, are also being used as a smokescreen to close accounts – and even to prevent withdrawals.
One solution to being “chinned” is to buy or rent an account owned by someone who the bookies see as a losing customer, preferably a “whale” who bets big.
One pro gambler said that bookies were getting better at spotting such tactics but that piggy-backing on third-party accounts had worked well in the past.
“A friend of mine made a lot of money … his brother was a student and tons of students in the uni had multiple accounts for him. He’d give them a burner phone, they’d open the account and fund it with money he sent them and they’d operate it. Another guy would send people a laptop and instructions on what to bet on. They’d keep the computer and a share of the winnings.”
While bookies are getting wiser to it, “clean” betting accounts are still traded via social media platforms and messaging apps such as Telegram and WhatsApp, according to multiple industry sources.
“If it’s just [buying] an ID and a postcode it could be £20,” said one pro punter, who described this marketplace as a “wild west”.
“If you offered me the account of a VIP who was a [stake factor of] 50 at Bet365, with a couple of years of history betting, that could be worth tens of thousands,” they said.
“For an account that was down a couple of million, it would take a couple of weeks for the company to get rid of a VIP like that. They’re unique.”
Bookies do not like being taken for a ride like this.
In 2019, Bet365 was sued for £1m in Northern Ireland after it refused to pay out winnings to a 19-year-old student, who had staked £25,000 on 12 horses, mostly successfully.
Bet365 claimed the stake had been provided by a third party, contravening its terms and conditions. The case was discontinued, prompting rumours of a financial settlement.
People who lend or sell their accounts are sometimes referred to by some in the industry as “beards” or “mules”.
Buying accounts is not the only way to get a bet on if you have been shut out by the big companies.
Another is to bet via the illicit market, a sector estimated to be worth £1bn and growing.
A legion of unlicensed casinos and bookmakers have targeted the UK market.
Based overseas, they are easily accessible by the use of software such as a virtual private network (VPN), and many accept payment in cryptocurrency, making it hard for the authorities to track them. Some, aimed at valuable high-rolling whales or VIPs – in other words people who lose a lot of money – are invite-only. Such firms do not pay UK gambling duties and regulated operators have warned that Rachel Reeves’s decision to increase taxes on online betting firms at last week’s budget will drive more punters into the arms of these underground sites.
But the unregulated market may not be solely the domain of foreign actors with no skin in the UK game. Last month, the Guardian revealed that a licensed British bookmaker accidentally disclosed information suggesting it may be running an illegal offshore betting operation.
One entirely legitimate way to gamble outside the traditional industry is via a betting syndicate, such as Starlizard, run by Bloom, who is the defendant in the lawsuit reported by the Guardian.
Such syndicates allow members with enough money to buy in, gaining access to hi-tech statistical modelling used to place wagers with specialist bookmakers around the world who are prepared to lay big bets. Syndicate members share the winnings.
In 2023, the Guardian reported that Matthew Benham, a protege of Bloom’s who owns Brentford FC, appeared to have made money from bets on football placed in his own name, via a UK-based gambling syndicate called MSPP Admin.
Benham said he abided by all Football Association betting rules.
As with individual gamblers, those in the know say syndicates often buy third-party beard accounts to hide their involvement from bookmakers who might otherwise turn down their business. Ideally, the beard would be a whale, because the unsuspecting bookie would be happy to allow them to wager large amounts.
In Bloom’s case, according to the recent court filing, an arrangement was allegedly reached between Bloom, the syndicate and Cottrell under which Cottrell would receive a 33% share of any wins made when using his account.
One punter had little sympathy for the bookies in such cases.
“In a world where the companies will shut you down for nothing … well, fuck ’em.”
The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.
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