Betting Slips

[mathare]

A pretty noddy question this one and one I feel I should probably know the answer too.

How long after placing a bet at a high street bookies do I have before trying to claim my bet becomes a waste of time?

The reason I ask is I was in Skipton mid-June and placed a few bets in Corals because they were offering the best odds. But the nearest Corals is miles away from where I live. It's a bus ride to the nearest Corals and to be honest the small amount that I would win by cashing in the slips hardly justifies the time and bus fare. Yes, the bets were that bad.

But, I do pass a Corals occasionally. If we go to the right pub and there is evening racing on so they would be open. But we might not be going to that pub for a couple of weeks. Would I still be able to claim the winnings then?

[tophatter]

I dont know the answer but i would imagine it would be something like 6 months. Not even the bookies would be so mean as to put a limit of a couple of weeks on paying up.... could they?

[mathare]

Six months was my ballpark guesstimate too.

I think I will start carrying the slips in my wallet on the off chance I wander past an open branch of Corals

[Win2Win]

Bookies tend to pass them over into accounts after a year, but you can claim after that as they are never actually void.

I remember a few years back a guy had around 10,000 slips from many years back, the bookies were really pleased to see him!!! But they paid up on all they could find, and it came to a few grand.

[Bulldog]

We're going back a few years now but the way it used to work was that all slips paid out were bundled up and sent to head office along with the film from the camera that everything had to pass through. The remaining unpaid slips were kept for a short while and if unclaimed were entered into the "sleepers" book. If someone came in the details were easily accessed in the book. If someone came in with a slip from another branch it was simply a case of calling the other branch for a settlement figure.

Nowadays all the tills are computerised so I can't see there being a problem with taking any slip to any branch at any time.

[vegyjones]

Hey Bulldog, nice to see you back! :D

Shouldn't be a problem, there aren't any rules in the terms and conditions
about bets expiring, and they always have to ensure that they are able to pay returned slips (no matter how old they are) if they are handed in!

And if it means you can buy an extra pint... well done! :D

[GLENCROFT]

Ive cashed a few recently at a different branch than the bet was placed at - I dont understand in this computer age why they have to phone up the other branch before settling ? - maybe this should be in the rant section !

[CelticSpirit]

by the nature of my work and travelling I do between jobs, I often have old a pile of old slips to cash in various bookies, thats why I try to use internet if I can or national chains rather than the local bookie.

I have had slips of well over a year and its just a matter of them looking on their pooter screen and contacting the branch where the bet was made.
I wonder how many 'winnings' are uncollected?, I have seen myself 'lose' slips and just not thinking it was worth the bother of going to all the rigmarole of chasing it.............. bookie wins again!

[Win2Win]

Millions are uncollected. The RP are running a story on it today.

[TheOldhamWhisper]

Obviously the Racing Post have been looking for quality material on our forum again! :D

Todays front page (paper version) discusses a new plan to set 'time limits' on unclaimed bets and for these 'sleepers' to be ploughed back into racing and racing charities.

It goes on to say that although major bookmakers do not disclose details of the amounts involved, the Tote revealed they have around £4m in unclaimed tickets!

The 'plan' is not something the bookies have come up with (shame on them!) but will be part of the Gambling Bill which will be introduced into Parliament in October with a second reading expected before Christmas.

[Onlyforfun]

Thought that myself!

The most sensible plan imho would be for all sleepers to be "donated" to a charitable fund after a year, with claims on the winnings still accepted and borne by the fund. Sensibly invested it could be a great asset to the sport.

[vegyjones]

I think that all missed bets after a year should be given to those that claim them first...

They're MINE!

There you go... all those loverly millions coming my way! :D

[CelticSpirit]

My only reservation about unclaimed winnings going to a charity would be there would be a farce like the charities that are supported by the lottery, in my opinion some of them are totally undeserving, then you get the advisers, accountants, consultants and ever yother milking sponger that can get a 'cut' of kitty, then by the time any money makes its way to the the deserving it has been well filtered down to a fraction of its original value.

[Win2Win]

If they donate to the charities like IJK, ILPH, Moorcroft, etc, then they are well managed and cater we for ex jocks & horses.

[manckevin]

Here's the article in full, interesting reading :)

[in light of the response below, the article was deleted]

[Win2Win]

...and you asked permission to reproduce that :)

You should always add a link to the site where the article came from, although you should ask. The RP (www.racingpost.co.uk) have more money to close this site down.

[manckevin]

Oops!

[Alex]

Alphameric SCS tills are capable of storing the bet information for as long as the bookies wish. Most users of this system compress the old bets and store either on a seperate storage medium or keep the old bets compressed on the system. The old bets can be extracted and payed out as usual though.

The average time for a bookies using this system before the system archives the bets is usually 18 months.

Alex.

[Alex]

I have to agree that unclaimed winnings should be cashed to charity, at least the majority. However we musnt forget the thousands of pissed up neds that come into the bookies and place all sorts of stupid bets on such things as euro 2004 or such and such a team to win the premiership... They often cause a great deal of trouble for the staff and dont remember that even had a bet in the morning. This can be very lucrative for the bookies. Over euro 2004ish competitions thousands of drunks may come in to one chain, thousands of pounds are never claimed, if i was truly liberal i would advocate these proceeds to go to such imaginary charities as "beer for chavs" or "the nike air donation project".

Im really quite divided on this issue. After all, its a ruthless business...

Alex.

[vegyjones]

If some Moron puts money on something that he can't remember...
He doesn't deserve to have it back or his winnings...

Now what where the lottery numbers for January 2002??? :D

[Safron16]

I have today found slips I had thought lost forever from the 1986 Grand National.
The tickets are fully readable and I have bets on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed runners.
I telephoned the local bookies and was given a number to telephone for customer services as they said I should still be able to claim by wending the tickets off.
I telephoned the number given and a very abrupt man informed me that they will only honour slips for a period of 3 weeks!!!

Who do I believe?

[Win2Win]

A post from 2004!! :omg:

The slips are still valid, they have to be honoured. Try again. Failing that use the racing arbetration service.