TELEGRAM TOUTS: A TRIP THROUGH AN INTERNET SEWER

March 7, 2022

Always on the lookout for winners I recently took notice of the various Telegram channels/groups (Telegram "channels" allow one-way communication, moderator to user. "Groups" allow everyone to post) that purport to hand out horse tips.

My interest was piqued by a claim that someone posted Saudi Cup winner Emblem Road in one of these groups. I still can't find where that was posted, but I've found plenty of tips.

Most Telegram tip groups seem to operate in more or less the same way. Tipsters post favorites exclusively, then whenver they win they ask everyone reading to pay for their VIP tips. A cynical sort - such as myself - might think they often bet more than one favorite, then post their winners with a message similar to "BIP! BAM! BOOOOOOM! JOIN VIP!"

I've never paid to join any of these VIP groups so I can't accurately comment on how their selections perform. Judging from comments in the groups it appears that, like most, these VIP tipsters have good and bad days.

The sleaze of these places is so thick I joined one tipsters group only to be messaged privately within minutes by a different tipster who was lurking about trying to poach customers, asking me if I wanted to join his "VIP group" for only 5£/month.

I shared these links with an acquaintance online who asked for them with the warning: "You have to put up with a lot of garbage just to get the free tips."

A day later he replied: "Jesus, you weren’t wrong about those groups. Awful. So many people chatting rubbish. I’m leaving them. Can’t be bothered with it and not worth it at all."

Here's an image that sums up Telegram tout groups. I particularly enjoyed the comment by Lars Mohr who blames the allegedly poor state of UK and USA racing on "the situation in Ukraine." Click to enlarge:

There is some good news. I follow Australian horse racing and used to obtain very good tips from Punters, a forum for Australian horses.

Months ago Punters introduced "Punters+" which is a pay service and wanted to charge everyone to use their forum. This caused a revolt and some bettors have formed a Discord group called The Betting Ring.

No money is required to join and I receive no compensation for mentioning it here. I am trying to bring more American sports fans into the group as not only are there areas to discuss horse racing but also NBA, NFL, NHL, etc.

The tips are quite good, much better than the Telegram hucksters I've seen. One Australian user gave out 4 winners in a row at Santa Anita this past Saturday.

Click here to take advantage of the invite link - this is only good for the next few days!

See you there...

JHK