Revealed: the racehorse owner fronting an illegal bookmaker with more than 1,000 customers

A registered British racehorse owner is a senior figure in an illegal bookmaker that claims to have more than 1,000 customers, including others involved in racing, an undercover investigation has revealed.

Haydon Simcock, a former syndicate manager, said he acted as commercial manager for The Post Bookmakers, an unregulated firm taking bets through the messaging app WhatsApp whose advertising material has been circulating widely through the sport in recent months.

The BHA is now set to investigate the role of Simcock in The Post Bookmakers, which offers heavy deposit inducements and claims to offer a bespoke service to those who cannot or will not bet with regulated firms, citing affordability checks and account restrictions as key reasons customers choose to bet with them. 

Believing he was speaking to a prospective customer, Simcock told an undercover reporter the firm employed ten people, had 1,300 customers and expected a "ridiculously busy" Cheltenham Festival. He recommended the customer deposit "as much as you can" to take advantage of a matched deposit scheme. 

Listen to the full conversation

In part one, an undercover reporter for the Racing Post contacts Haydon Simcock, the commercial manager for 'The Post Bookmakers', an unlicensed bookmaker that claims to serve over 1,000 customers in Britain. Posing as a prospective customer, we ask him about their services. In the second part, our undercover reporter confronts Simcock about his involvement as an unlicensed bookmaker

• Listen to part one
• Listen to part two
• Key excerpts: 'People don't want to provide bank statements. We've got so many people betting with us'  

Simcock said: "Let's just say you were putting in £2,000. We double it, so you've got £4,000 to bet with. You'll have a £2,000 cash balance and a £2,000 free bet balance. It's up to you how much you put in but, obviously, with Cheltenham coming up, if it was me, I would be making the best use of it and getting in as much as you can, just so you've got funds ready for Cheltenham.

"We do get ridiculously busy through Cheltenham. We are putting messages out shortly, just to make sure that you've loaded up your accounts ready for Cheltenham. We're offering matched deposits to all our existing customers as well with the festival coming up, just so we're not getting dragged down with people putting money in during the festival when we're really busy. We would rather people load up, have money in your accounts and then you're free to go and do whatever you want."

Simcock added: "A lot of our customers at the moment are owners and trainers and racing managers within horseracing, ultimately because everyone is struggling to get on and people don't want to provide bank statements and affordability checks."

Haydon Simcock: "Everyone is struggling to get on and people don't want to provide bank statements and affordability checks"

Racing's leaders and betting industry representatives have repeatedly warned that black market betting activity has risen since bookmakers began implementing affordability checks, which will be debated by MPs in Westminster Hall on Monday after more than 100,000 people signed a petition calling on the government to scrap their formal introduction.

The BHA has become increasingly concerned about the financial and integrity threats posed by the black market, with the governing body calculating that for every £10 million of gross betting win that moves outside of the licensed environment, racing loses £1.5m in media rights and £1m in levy funding. 

The ease with which prospective customers can reach alternative black market bookmakers and the apparent impunity with which they function is illustrated by the fact Simcock is operating in his role openly and without using an alias, with his name and telephone number carried on the black market bookmaker's advertising material.

The Stoke-based Simcock has owned five horses in Britain since 2018, one registered in his own name and four under the banner of Dark Horse Partnership, a syndicate he fronted that had five winners. Sirius White became the last Dark Horse Partnership runner in January, having won a Chelmsford handicap in November last year. Simcock currently has no horses in training and the firm behind his syndicate was dissolved in 2022.

During the Racing Post's undercover conversation, Simcock said he had worked for The Post for eight months having previously been a punter with an outfit he asserted had been trading since 2017. He also provided reassurance that the firm offered discretion and that punters would have their identities and funds protected.

"We are the same as any other bookmaker, in a sense," he said. "You get your bet on and you get paid. Nobody will know that you're betting with us. We only take ID from you when we're paying you out."

Confirming his own involvement in the sport, Simcock said: "I'm in the racing industry. I've run a syndicate for the past five years and had horses in Newmarket."

According to Simcock, The Post, whose name and logo appear to falsely imply a connection to the Racing Post, offers customers the best odds available from a pool of four major bookmakers – bet365, Paddy Power, Sky Bet or William Hill – and prefers to accept bets via screenshots of online betting slips. This is believed to be the standard practice of WhatsApp layers, some of whom are understood to employ established and seemingly reputable racing figures as agents likely to be trusted by potential customers.

The Racing Post made contact for a second time with Simcock on Thursday, this time using the mobile phone number shown on the Dark Horse Partnership Facebook page. When confronted with questions about his connection to The Post Bookmakers, Simcock this time said he did not "work directly for the business" and asked that inquiries were instead directed towards a man called David he had referred to as The Post's owner during the first telephone call.

"You need to speak to the owner of the business because I'm just a friend of the owner," said Simcock. When it was pointed out he had previously explained he worked as the "commercial manager", a title also given to him on the advertisement seen by the Racing Post, Simcock replied: "Technically, no. Like I say, you would be better speaking to the owner." 

He subsequently stated he did not know the owner's surname and at no stage disputed The Post being described as a bookmaker that is not regulated and pays nothing to racing or the exchequer.

"I don't work directly for the business," he then said before acknowledging his name was on the promotional material. "Yeah, that's correct," he said, adding: "You need to speak to David. It's his business. I'm only a friend of David and do little bits for him." 

Simcock said he would ask the business owner to make contact with the Racing Post. No such contact has been received. Running an unregulated bookmaker is a crime under the Gambling Act 2005.

Responding to the Racing Post's findings, a BHA spokesperson said: "We would not tolerate anyone who is found to be acting as an illegal betting operator being licensed or registered to take part in our sport. Should any such individual be identified we would look to investigate and take the appropriate action, as well as working with authorities such as the Gambling Commission, who have responsibility for regulation of the gambling industry."

A Gambling Commission spokesperson confirmed The Post is not regulated by the organisation and said: "We don’t comment on specific cases but we always investigate allegations of unlicensed gambling."

Read more:

Key excerpts: 'People don't want to provide bank statements. We've got so many people betting with us'  

 How black market bookies have spread through racing - and even solicit business at Cheltenham 

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