BALPA Complaint stops Paddy Power

[ShotOne]

BALPA have lodged a complaint with the Isle of Man gaming authority about the odious practice of taking bets on which airline is due to go bust next. Paddy Power have stopped this -although they claim they were going to do so anyway. This betting was bad news for all airline employees. Great result, BALPA!

[Airbubba]

Bets on which airline will go under next should be left to the professionals. We play for keeps with our careers.

[Ballymoss]

A huge success for BALPA (if they played a part in it) and well worth the dues
of the membership

Rgds
The Moss

[racedo]

Its is highly likely that the number of bets placed was so low as to make it not worth the effort of updating it.

This website and others quite happily accept bets on football clubs to be relegated, managers to be sacked, politicians to lose their seats at an election etc etc.

While the subject maybe distasteful the furore and comment are out of proportion and best way is to ignore it.
As of yet there is no recorded case of a bookie taking a bet on someone losing their job being responsible for someone losing their job.

[TwinAisle]

there is no recorded case of a bookie taking a bet on someone losing their job being responsible for someone losing their job

Perhaps no hard evidence.... but I can tell you, if the public sees headlines like "Airline XXXX tipped by leading bookmaker as the next airline to go bust", the forward bookings WILL fall. The general public are nervous of giving their hard earned dosh, and entrusting their family holidays, to companies that are being splashed across the red tops as the next to hit the wall.

I did wonder whether it would be fun to get all the airline CEOs in the UK to place substantial bets on Paddy Power being the next bookmaker to fail, and see them publish that. I'm in!

Well done to all that got this odious trend stopped.

TA

[Finn47]

The money placed in these bets was pitifully low anyway. According to this article here, if Monarch had gone bankrupt, Paddy Power would have faced a payout of only 7000 pounds. At 4:1 odds, that means bets had only been placed for a whopping total worth of 1750 pounds...

Bookmaker slashes odds on Monarch Airlines going bust | Business | guardian.co.uk

[tewkesbury]

The whole industry is a lot safer and on a sounder footing, now that that thieving b######d Elias Esea from E-Clear is out of business.
Lets hope he gets what he deserves, although I doudt it very much, white collar crime, doesn't get the say punishment as robbong trains.

[racedo]

The whole industry would be a lot better if a senior executive of said pathetic excuse for a low end betting shop wasn't also on the board of directors of Thomas Cook. One of Monarch's major competitors. Great way to release false information to the public, who it was hoped would then desert Monarch. Alas it they failed to realise the strength and resilience of the Monarch brand, and in fact bookings increased! Up yours Paddy power!

I think it more probable that said senior executive was responsible for suggesting that having a book open on airlines going bust wasn't a good way of doing business.

I think the paranoia that senior exec was responsible for Monarch being high up the list is just that, managers don't like Directors interfering with their day to day job.
Why would anybody with a substantial benefits package from PP and TC go to the trouble of doing this knowing full well that if even a hint of his involvement then effectively his career was over in both companies.

[SAXONBLOKE]

Racedo, if said senior executive was responsible for suggesting the book on airlines to go bust wasn't a good idea, then it took him long enough to do so !
How many previous bets on airlines had there been, did he not feel it worthwhile to suggest it when those various other airlines were top of the list ??!
I think you'll find you're talking complete crap.

[cherrylock]

How dispicable, if its ever proven a thomas cook director was behind this sort of thing my family and i would never ever give them any more of our business

[Slickster]

This website and others quite happily accept bets on football clubs to be relegated, managers to be sacked, politicians to lose their seats at an election etc etc.

While the subject maybe distasteful the furore and comment are out of proportion and best way is to ignore it.
As of yet there is no recorded case of a bookie taking a bet on someone losing their job being responsible for someone losing their job.

I doubt betting on a football match has much material affect on the outcome; if it does, it might even work "the wrong way round" with players more fired up to prove their betting detractors wrong. Either way, it is unlikely to stop people going to the match, and the TV companies have already paid, and therefore the club's income is unaffected.

Airlines are different beasts. They rely on cash coming in, and cash going out. As soon as next Summer's holidaymakers (or even planners) don't book with you, you have less cash coming in. Combine that with every man and his dog who you owe money to forming a long queue (because, amongst other things, no one is booking with you.....), suddenly demanding payment, and you're not far off Paddypower's prediction coming true.

And all because they said you were going to go bust in the first place, and it was a "slow news day" for the Tabloids.

[racedo]

Racedo, if said senior executive was responsible for suggesting the book on airlines to go bust wasn't a good idea, then it took him long enough to do so !
How many previous bets on airlines had there been, did he not feel it worthwhile to suggest it when those various other airlines were top of the list ??!

You working on the Paranoia assumption...........he is a non exec director of PP and hence would have little if any involvement on day to day issues on what the company was doing, thats why he is a NON Exceutive. Likewise I would not expect that he knows how many flights TC makes from Gatwick or what load factors are each month. A Non Exec's role is pretty limited and the idea of a Non Exec influencing things like this to thrash a competitor is laughable.

I would not expect a Non Exec to know piece by piece what the company was offering just like I would not expect a Non Exec at Tesco to know that the company was selling. They are there because Stock Exchange rules requires it but Non Execs pretty much do bugger all..............thats why they are beloved because its money for old rope.

I think people need to be really careful here as attempting to suggest a Non Exec director of 2 companies tried to thrash a supposed competitor via a poorly used betting option is not something that I would wish to try and defend in a libel court. There is a real danger here where people are making an assumption over something that never happened and impinging someone's integrity and character with no fact.

[racedo]

I doubt betting on a football match has much material affect on the outcome; if it does, it might even work "the wrong way round" with players more fired up to prove their betting detractors wrong.

Unfortunately as has been proven by FA that games have been influenced by betting and perieved bribery. Bruce Grobellar ended in court as a result of one such investigation and there have been others.

[smudgethecat]

I dont doubt for a momement this sort of thing can have a very damaging effect on the airlines concerned, a summer holiday is a major expense for most people and any suggestion that that holiday may be at risk not matter how tenous is enough for major arlarm bells to start ringing with joe public, i think however monarch may have come out of this relatively unscathed due to the fact they have a very loyal customer base and are seen generally as a rock solid very well establised airline, but for others it could be very much more serious

[TwinAisle]

Unfortunately as has been proven by FA that games have been influenced by betting and perieved bribery. Bruce Grobellar ended in court as a result of one such investigation and there have been others.

Which rather neatly supports Slickster's argument and mine... but I digress.

There is a real danger here where people are making an assumption over something that never happened and impinging someone's integrity and character with no fact

Absolutely agree. Anyone with PROOF should forward it to the appropriate authority, not play games on PPRUNE - remember, publishers get the finger for libel as well as authors, and PPRUNE is a publisher....

TA

[PPRuNe Towers]

Thread closed again. Vast publicity for Paddy Power with still only 7 k to lose.

Have it out on the Balpa forum you've paid much more for.

Rob