The excellent article on the inexorable rise of the Bet365 gambling empire and its boss Denise Coates (“Bet365 ‘cash machine’ keeps paying the house”, Report, January 13) makes a claim from a beneficiary of the Denise Coates Foundation that Bet365 provides a service that “lots of people can responsibly utilise”.
I beg to differ. For two decades I was a loyal customer until bets on my account were restricted to pennies and the account abruptly terminated. In a lifetime of responsible gambling, I have won enough to supplement my income, but it bothers me greatly that Bet365 can get away with closing customer accounts without proper explanation or warning. After all, Coates should know bookmaking is a two-way street and customers must be able to win as well as lose. Or is it a case of weeding out the winners and keeping the losers to ensure the company a guaranteed means of making a profit?
Malcolm Heyhoe
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK
