Star Sports promotes hedging service by Chris Pitt I
t’s been a fast and furious twelve months for Ben Keith’s Star Sports organisation. First the relocation in July 2009 to a new base at Knoll Business Centre in Hove, then in January a change of name from Star Racing to Star Sports. “You wouldn’t believe it but
there were so many punters who thought we didn’t take sports bets; they thought we just did racing,” says Ben of the reason for the name change. The move from what was once a four-man credit offi ce operation above a former Star Racing shop in Goring was prompted by a sudden upsurge in business. There were some who feared that decamping into much larger premises in a prominent location on Hove’s Old Shoreham Road was a trifl e ambitious, yet now, twelve months on, the 18- strong Star Racing workforce are crammed in like sardines. “I’m delighted with the
business,” smiles Ben. “It’s like living a dream. It gets busier every week. During the big meetings and on Saturdays it’s rocking. We took £687,000 on the Friday of Royal Ascot and on the Saturday we took about £450,000. That’s good turnover. “In a big, fi ves the fi eld handicap we can take over a grand out of eight horses in the race. That’s not bad! “We can be losing 100-
really important part of their life. It’s a bit like somebody who appreciates good wine, someone who studies it, rather than just going to Oddbins. That’s how they see us for bookmaking – they like the fact that they can come through and they’re not dealing with halfwits or people who don’t care. “It’s intense but there’s a
grand at three o’clock and end up winning 100-grand on the day. That’s strong. We’re laying lots of different horses – we’ll take big money out of the favourite, we’ll lay a second favourite. A lot of high profi le people are betting with us – respected business people, sportsmen, big gamblers – so there’s a lot of activity.” Promoting themselves
great forward momentum. I’m a very positive person and I believe you should always – even if you’re having a bad day – look back and think ‘there’s an area I’ve moved forward in today.’ “I want to play. My foot goes forward rather than goes back to defend, but obviously I like to know who I’m dealing with. If somebody calls and wants 30-grand on a 13-8 chance on their account, I’ll bet them, but if somebody calls out of the blue wanting two grand on a 20-1 shot at Naas, that’s not going to happen, so don’t think that I’ll bet anybody anything at anytime.” When Star Racing became Star Sports a vigorous marketing campaign began, co-ordinated by Luke Tarr, their head of public relations, in conjunction with PR agency Square in the Air, culminating in full page Racing Post advertisements during Cheltenham and Royal Ascot weeks, cementing their reputation as a company that will take a “proper” bet by offering “to lay any horse, to any customer, to lose up to £50,000.”
as “The Gentlemen’s Bookmaker”, Star Sports now has a portfolio of more than 3,000 clients and take pride in being on fi rst name terms with 95 per cent of them. “I enjoy the business because
you build relationships,” Ben enthuses. “For people who bet with us, gambling is a
Those ads wouldn’t have come cheap but then they were aimed at the big punters. “We don’t need to open 50 accounts a day,” says Ben. “If we get one really good punter, that pays for the advert. “It’s during Cheltenham,
Royal Ascot, the World Cup and Champions’ League that punters move around a bit. When the big events come up, people want to see what’s on offer round and about, and that’s when you can acquire the odd big player. There is only so much cake to go round but when they
14 July/August 2010 BOS Magazine
Ben Keith and Alex Wheeler at Royal Ascot
surface for those events, sometimes you can get them. We acquired a very big punter at the beginning of this World Cup who had £75,000 on England at 8-15 against USA, and £110,000 under 2.5 goals Germany versus Australia at 8-11, plus £25,000 on a horse at 15-8.” Star Sports are also keen to
advertise their hedging service for the independents. “I really enjoy people
hedging with us,” says Ben. “You can have a chat with them; we can help each other, it’s a great way to network. I think that Betfair has killed off so much of the community – now it’s anonymous on a computer, so it’s great to catch up with people.” Luke comments: “One of the
great problems with hedging is that sometimes you need to do it immediately. If you’ve laid a bet at 5-2 that’s about to go
Picture: Supplied
9-4, 15-8 and you call up some of the big fi rms wanting to have four grand on at 5-2, you can be put on hold or referred and, two minutes later, when they fi nally come back, it’s 6-4 and it’s no good to you. If you call us up, everyone is trained to the same level, everyone’s a senior trader, you’re never put on hold and you can have a proper bet within seconds. “The average bet over the course of a year is about £1,200. Unlike others, we’re not average bet £20, and, when someone has a proper bet, they panic and put it up to the big guys. We are the big guys. Everyone is the same level and you can get on in seconds. They don’t need to go anywhere else. “Obviously you’ll get more on for a Group 1 at Ascot than a 0-60 at Yarmouth at
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