Out of pocket?

There’s a very curious piece in today’s Daily Telegraph about the ‘risks’ of in-running betting.

Shock, horror – but get this if your weak constitution can take it: two horses, one at 1-50 and one at 1-25, got beaten.

Poor punters who backed them, someone who read it told me, were left ‘out of pocket’ – almost as if an operator had failed to pay out.

Or answer (b), they lumped on to something that they thought a certainty, and they were wrong. They didn’t collect winnings, in common with most punters, who also place bets that they think will win and are often wrong. The odds reflected the likelihood of the occurrence happening which is, well – what odds do.

Meanwhile, two other punters backed outsiders, at 50-1 and 25-1, and won. Oh – and some people who backed the winning horse in one instance got him at 319-1.

Good on all of them. Except, of course, that’s not the story. The story is that ‘the risks associated with this form of punting were never better illustrated than in the first two races at Newbury on Wednesday’.

This stuff really makes the news?