Thanks for trying barrie, the money paid in comes from my debit account, the bookies won't accept deposits from a credit card, so they are secure, as is the bank, in the knowledge that the money is/was in my account and which is why they'll allow me to place the bet immediately. It thus follows that if they have no worries about me placing the bet, they can have no worries on that score about paying me out, so I don't see this as the reason for the delay.