Pinnacle's Nadir

I can’t say it was huge surprise that Curacao based Pinnacle Sports have followed SBOBet and withdrawn from the UK market, but it is disappointing news. I saw TFA ask Pinnacle Sports on Wednesday for comments on the rumours, and their reply was hardly unequivocal.

Pinnacle Sports’ business model of using punters to highlight inefficiencies and help them to sharpen their lines has certainly been a welcome breath of fresh air in the past few years. If only the more traditional books would learn from Pinnacle and re-invent themselves, but it's so much easier to close and limit, yet so short sighted.

Pinnacle's understanding of geography might not be as sharp as their mathematical skills - 

and their continued reference to FC Nantes as Nantes Atlantique (despite the Atlantique being dropped more than seven years ago) was almost as annoying as their low draw prices in Ligue 1, but overall they will be missed, especially if you like Aways and Draws. 

TFA Graeme wrote a long piece (when does he ever not?) about this in his email to subscribers, and mentioned a few options for accessing the likes of Pinnacle Sports and SBOBET, notable the use of bet brokers or using an account registered overseas, such as the ROI (Republic of Ireland). For the top leagues, liquidity on the exchanges makes these a viable option if you are not paying the Premium Charge, and the low ROI (Return on Investment) on football bets makes it a useful way of generating commission and delaying the onset of Premium Charges.

As for the FTL, nothing changes. Joseph Buchdahl of Football Data has confirmed that he will still be collecting Pinnacle’s prices even if he appears to be unable to mention their name:

Speaking of Graeme, I mentioned yesterday that he had opened his FTL account with two draw selections both ending 1:0, but that was my mistake. I am not familiar with Graeme's numerous systems, and when he said his draws would be D1-D6 and I saw selections in D1, I got rather excited.

Turns out that D1 is not automatically in D1-D6 but that D1-D6 is its own entity. I think I've got it now, and Graeme's slate has been wiped clean. He is definitely in action this weekend though, and I hope no one in profit went out and spent the £25 bounty. Daily 25 is also making his debut, and Football Investor may be in-play.