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Sean Lawless

ex-Independent Bookmaker

Welcome. This site was updated in June 2021. My name is Sean Lawless. I operated Licensed Betting Offices in Dundalk and Dublin, Ireland since 1969. I have also served on the Council of the Irish Independent Betting Offices Association (I.I.B.O.A.) for many years, representing County Louth.

This website and videos are directed specifically towards the 10, 000+ (UK and Irish) “Independent Bookmakers” who had ever held a permit (UK) and/or a license for individual “Betting Shops” at a time, from 1967- to date.

You can read my full story here on this site, or easily listen to the 4 part podcast on YouTube here –>.

I’d also love to hear from you if any of this has impacted you, or your family over the years.

S.I.S pricing policy ” in my view is hovering on perhaps the right side of legality“

 Angus Crichton-Miller (rip)

What happened to me?

In April 1994, S.I.S. unilaterally, (and I contend) unlawfully, incorporated the B.A.G.S. subscription into the S.I.S. service fee. I wrote to S.I.S. requesting a breakdown of the service fee but my request was simply ignored. In November 1994 I sent a cheque to S.I.S. for the amount due less the disputed balance, which I agreed to put on joint-deposit with them, until the matter was decided by their own method of arbitration.

On the 14th November 1994 S.I.S. cleared my cheque for the undisputed amount, and the next day disconnected their service from my premises. At no time have they provided me with a word of explanation for their actions. As a consequence of their reckless and oppressive behaviour I was put out of business, and I have remained so ever since. S.I.S. were, and still are, a monopoly provider of a vital service to off-course bookmakers, I also contend that their action in this matter constitutes an abuse of a dominant position.

Book Blurb

Sean Lawless is a name that may not be familiar to many, but his untold story is one that demands attention and recognition. In a world dominated by International Gambling Corporations, Lawless stood alone in his fight for fairness and transparency. He was the single bookmaker who dared to challenge the formidable forces controlling the Gambling Industry. The Big 4 Bookmakers, Ladbrokes, Corals, Hills, and Mecca joined forces and formed SIS who illegitimately set about to wipe out independent bookmakers and proceeded to exploit the most vulnerable customers in the industry. The independents fell like dominoes, except Lawless, who has since relentlessly pursued the Big 4’s SIS for breaching and illegally tampering with their contract.

Over the course of nearly three decades of battling SIS, Lawless endured personal struggles, spending five weeks in a facility for depression. Having gone through the Courts, Lawless briefed one of the top 3 International Law Firms in Ireland, who failed him, and latterly two additional eminent Law Firms who also failed him. Lawless realised that, if he continued to pursue this matter, it could end as life-threatening. However, Lawless decided to pursue the matter as a lay litigant, despite the threat to his health. Gathering his accumulated evidence, Lawless ultimately appealed to the Supreme Court after exhausting his efforts in the lower courts.

In 1962 UK bookmakers opened shops to the public. Ladbrokes and Corals tried to merge in 1998. The merger was blocked following the release of  the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) report, commissioned and presented to the British Parliament by the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. 

The latest twist: In 2018 Ladbrokes and Corals who had been in business for over one hundred years, respectively, were collectively purchased by GVC, a gaming corporation merely 14 years old, for a massive £3.5 Billion. Subsequently GVC’s CEO Kenny Alexander sold shares worth £13.7m in 2019, the following July the surprise departure of Alexander was announced, that same month investigations by HM Revenue and Customs into “potential corporate offending” related to GVC’s former Turkish-facing online gambling business, which it had sold in December 2017. In December 2020, GVC Holdings rebranded as Entain plc.

Warning: this book does show how to make a $Billion, but the means of getting it may not be entirely legitimate.