Betting Academy is a new to market horse racing tipster service which is operated by Ross Jenkins and backed up by a team of tipsters. They claim to have made some quite substantial profits in seemingly very little time.
Introduction to Betting Academy
Let’s be honest here, I don’t think anybody I know who takes betting halfway seriously wouldn’t like to get one over on the bookies. This is probably why I seem to see another tipster service every other week that makes the exact same claim. And it is always made even more enticing when there is a bookie in the middle of it. There’s something that’s just satisfying about using bookies to help get one over on them.
All of this is quite important because ultimately, this is pretty much the premise behind Betting Academy. Now of course, this is something of an oversimplification. In actual fact, the team behind the service hint at a rich and varied approach to the service. So much so, that it almost seems easier to list what isn’t involved than what is. Honestly, I can’t begin to tell you here just how much Ross Jenkins says has some influence over the service and the selection process (but I will later).
Of course, what really matters is how much money you can realistically make. And in the case of Betting Academy, this is apparently a hell of a lot. As I always do, I will talk more about the profits a little later on, when I can dissect Ross Jenkins’ claims more. What I will say though, is that it is very difficult to simply dismiss a 6-figure claim out of hand.
What Does Betting Academy Offer?
It isn’t very often that I find something that is genuinely interesting to me. But in the case of Betting Academy, there is something that really makes it stand out from the crowd. And rather interestingly, the part that is interesting isn’t information provided, so much as information not provided. Because frankly, there is a hell of a lot missing.
Nonetheless whilst there is a very distinctive lack of information, that doesn’t stop me from providing at least some insight into what is involved here. And despite some of the very lofty claims that Ross Jenkins makes, Betting Academy is, probably not that surprisingly, straightforward. Dare I even say… Simple?
Starting with the logistical elements, it really is everything that you would probably expect from this kind of tipster service. Selections for Betting Academy are issued directly to subscribers on a daily basis. Ross Jenkins sends these out directly via email. Honestly, it is all very standard fare. Not that that has to be an inherently bad thing.
What is arguably a bit of a negative though, is the lack of information that is included within these emails. Which honestly, doesn’t even surprise me at this point. And in fact, I can’t help but feel like this is going to become a very large part of a running theme with Betting Academy. Now, I do feel the need to say that there is enough information that you know what bets to place. But honestly… that is about it.
Whilst we’re talking about those more logistical elements, there are a few other things to consider with Betting Academy. Now, one of the main ones is the fact that selections are typically issued on the morning of racing. Quite often rather later in the day. Of course, this means those working a 9-5 may struggle getting bets placed with decent odds.
On the subject of odds, there are some very interesting inferences made in the marketing material for Betting Academy. For example, we are told that there is a treble at Ascot that is “currently priced at 200/1”. Of course, this is entirely fabricated. The same can also be said in relation to Ross Jenkins’ promotional material making a claim that a 10/1 winner came in.
Realistically, from what I have seen of Betting Academy, you won’t be betting on these longer shots. In actual fact, most of the bets appear to have incredibly middling odds. Which would be fine if they were winning but… There is little to suggest that this is the case, but I will talk about this in detail shortly.
In terms of the volume of bets, there is a suggestion that this will be very high volume. Specifically, the sales material says, “Each day we will provide a tip for every single race across all meetings”. This doesn’t seem to be the case, which is probably a blessing really. What you actually end up with is a small handful of bets each day.
Now, there are two things left to discuss, and they both stand out because (and I can’t believe I’m saying this again) there is no real information provided on them. That is the staking plan and a strike rate for Betting Academy.
The latter is somewhat easier to talk, and so that is what I will address first. Because we are at least told by Ross Jenkins in the sales material that there is “a good strike rate”. Quite what this entails isn’t really built upon. Which is interesting for such a subjective thing with such a quantifiable premise.
What I mean by this is that the whole idea of a strike rate is that it can be broken down into a number. 30%, 50%, or even 90%. Whether or not that is good, is something a bit more subjective.
But in the case of Betting Academy, I can tell you that the last example there of 90% is what Ross Jenkins claims the strike rate for the service is. Of course, this isn’t substantiated anywhere. Nor is it actually mentioned anywhere where you might typically see it. Instead, this strong claim (of which I am highly sceptical) is simply made in a marketing email.
And finally, we come to the stakes. Now, within the actual sales page, there is no mention of these. We are told in yet another marketing email that this information is provided with the selection emails. Whether or not you can call it a staking plan though … I’m a bit sceptical to be honest.
How Does Betting Academy Work?
Now we come to the part of Betting Academy that if I’m honest, is probably the juiciest. How the service works. Because there is just… So much happening behind the scenes. At least, that is how Ross Jenkins likes to portray everything.
Firstly, there is the involvement of inside information. I started this out by talking about beating the bookies and having a man on the inside. Ross Jenkins doesn’t just have one man working with him, but several. Specifically, we are told that Betting Academy has “our eyes and ears amongst the bookmakers, turning insight around to help punters”.
On top of this, we are also told that there have been “a few math geniuses who are truly talented oddsmakers” recruited. From there, Ross Jenkins goes on to talk about how they have been involved in the sportsbook industry for over 20 years. Whether they are still involved isn’t explicitly stated, but I think that is the implication for Betting Academy.
All of that is, I suppose, fair enough. But wait, there’s more! You see, we are also told that the team behind Betting Academy “spend countless hours analyzing and dissecting the formbook using Artificial Intelligence”.
This is also expanded on in a marketing email for Betting Academy which states that this ““artificail [sic]” brain” uses complex algorithms “to spit out the most accurate prediction possible”. And that it calculates all the stats and probabilities as well. Of course, this is all entirely unsubstantiated.
And if that wasn’t enough for you, there is also the final element of how Betting Academy “works”. This involves the team that Ross Jenkins has in place. We are told that there are four different “mentors” in place. These have supposedly been involved in providing “educational content” to more than 500,000 followers. It is suggested that their experience is a big part of the system.
What is the Initial Investment?
If you want to sign up to Betting Academy, there is only one option available. For this, Ross Jenkins is asking a one time cost of £29.99 (plus VAT). We are told that this price is a “Limited Lockdown Offer” on the supposed real value of £59.99. A saving of 50%. Unfortunately, I am rather sceptical of this “real value”.
One area in which I categorically can praise Ross Jenkins is the way that he makes it very clear that there is a full 60 day money back guarantee in place. This is backed up by Clickbank who are generally pretty good about honouring this.
What is the Rate of Return?
The thing that first piqued my interest in terms of Betting Academy was undoubtedly the profits that are involved. Ross Jenkins claims a six figure income. Which is of course absolutely massive. With that said, I will say that at a claimed income of £101,280.47, this is literally just about six figures. But what is really interesting is that the headline claims this in under 45 days.
Immediately, this is contradicted by a claim that you can expect to make £2,000 this week. Which of course adds up to around £104,000, over the course of a year. Elsewhere, the testimonials for Betting Academy range from making £3,000 in 30 days (and buying a Porsche) to a betting account being up over 1,000% in a little over a month. In this example, we are told that “Petr, Czech Republic” started with a £20 betting account and had made “over 10,000” in 42 days. What is important to note here is that these numbers are once again a contradiction of that headlining claim.
Conclusion for Betting Academy
As a piece of marketing, I can see how Ross Jenkins does a great job of bringing people in. Whilst I wholly admit to entering this somewhat cynically, the fact of the matter is that I still landed here. However, I am very well positioned to be able to apply critical thinking, utilise my understanding, and generally question the claims made.
Unfortunately, not everybody is in this position. And it is these people that I am really addressing with Betting Academy. Here’s the thing. Ross Jenkins uses a lot of ideas which sound good. That add an “air of legitimacy” to the service. This is all offset though by the fact that there isn’t a shred of evidence backing up… Well, pretty much anything, if I’m honest.
About the closest that Ross Jenkins gets to this is a hugely questionable “screenshot” of a William Hill betting account that has £101,280.47 in it. I’ve seen these a million times and honestly, I don’t think I’ve seen a single instance where the reality has correlated in any fashion with the claimed results. So I’m pretty dismissive of this.
The bit that really concerns me in terms of the lack of evidence also stems from the way the marketing is angled. I’ll talk more about the elements of how Betting Academy supposedly works, but before I do, I want to talk about what Ross Jenkins claims you can do with your “extra money”.
This includes things like quitting your job and wiping off debt. The “testimonials” also somewhat lean into this suggestion with one person talking about the fact that they aren’t “waiting on someone else to make decisions” about their income.
Moving on from this, I want to talk about how Betting Academy works. Because whilst I talked about the methodology earlier, I also acknowledge that I didn’t really provide any thoughts on it. And the reason for this, if I’m honest, is because I don’t believe a single iota of the claims.
In fact, as I was reading the sales pitch for Betting Academy (which almost exclusively talks about the approach but not the service, by the way), I began to notice certain patterns. You see, there are some buzz words that people just like to break out in this industry. Things that just sound impressive.
Betting Academy talks about genius oddsmakers, he talks about having bookies on the inside feeding him information, and he claims to have an AI that is capable of picking winners. Oh yeah, and as if this isn’t enough, he also has helped over 500,000 people make betting a source of income. Pepper in some big words, and it looks great. But where is the evidence? There is even a made up award that the service has won!
The fact of the matter as far as I am concerned is this. Ross Jenkins can’t even talk about his system. There is no discussion of even the most rudimentary elements of what you can expect. Instead, just more crap bigging the system up. And the only reason I can think of for this lack of information is that Betting Academy is operated by a marketer rather than a tipster. Somebody who can do a much better job of selling a service rather than developing one.
Ultimately, I think that this fits a lot of the flaws well. And it is the reason that Betting Academy sounds so appealing. But the reality is very likely to be a long way from this. Something I am confident saying because the vendor who has listed this through Clickbank is known to me. And this isn’t their first product, believe me. With that said, you won’t really find these older systems either as they conveniently tend to quietly disappear after a few months.
When you combine all of this together, I can’t really think of a single reason why you would want to put your money into Betting Academy. I can say with the utmost confidence that the only element of Betting Academy that I don’t view with suspicion is the money back guarantee, and that is because I comes from a third party. Let’s be honest, that doesn’t exactly bode well for the wider service.
Hi
I like your racing tipster reviews, even if your supressed scepticism borders on cynicism. I draw from them a wealth of ideas and pointers for my own system – the need for independent proofing (mine is at Racing Index – are they any good?) – some new innovation on delivery (mine are delivered via Sellfy on a daily purchase basis, no monthly/yearly subscriptions) – my system is pretty opaque and minimalist, a bit of a ‘black box’, which I considered a stylistic choice – especially for the webpage, no outlandish claims or aggressive marketing – though Sellfy does offer a quite sophisticated package. I am using a Kelly staking system which, at the moment, is set so soft that it is in effect a 1 pt. win only system.
The ‘black box’ – is Excel spreadsheet based. It is a complete rating system for NH handicap hurdle racing – you don’t think NH is as easy as the ‘flat’ for tipsters? It allows me to ‘run’ the races, generate odds, and therefore look for ‘value’ using the standard ‘expectation’ formula – I am no statistician, and therefore use nothing more complicated than normal distribution and least square techniques . Selections are filtered through the usual public information (going, days since last outing, LTO finishing position, etc.) and this ‘value ‘ parameter – combined into a weighted over-arching parameter that internally is called ‘the landing zone’. If they pass this process they are backed against the 8am tissue favourite – the Timeform 8 am favourite to be specific – if they are not actually the favourite that is! If there are no system horses to oppose it I support this tissue favourite.
Etc. etc. there is more – how some races are eliminated from consideration, but I am sure there is already too much here to put into a marketing package?
Of course there is no point to all this if the system is not any good. It’s too soon to say – ‘one swallow doesn’t a summer make’ – and the Covid virus wiped out the racing during the spring. If you put a start date of 24/01/2020 – the date I finalised this approach – into the Racing Index tipster proofing page, you will see NoNoBets comes out near the top, where as, say Bet Alchemist, and other admired tipsters are no where to be seen. However, just looking at the current live 6 months betting, Bet Alchemist is just above NoNoBets – c’est la vie.
Thanks for your reviews
Roger Pitcher