Troubleshooting

JRE / Java Not Found Anti-Virus Warnings Access Denied / Subscription Token Races / Horses Missed / Bot Messages Login Issues No Races Found Mac Issues Betfair API Status (no market or races loaded)

JRE / Java Not Found

You have an error that looks similar to this?

It looks like you don't have the 64Bit version of the Java Runtime Environment on your machine. A problem can arise if your computer is 64 bit capable, but is running the 32 bit version of Java. This can be compounded as Oracle's Java download page will most likely say your version of the JRE is up-to-date. Although you have Java installed and up-to-date, it's probably the 32 bit flavour. You can download Java for Windows Offline (64bit) here: The one you want is circled on the image below. You may now have to uninstall and reinstall the Bot to engage the new JRE.

For MAC users: the same issue can easily be fixed here:

There is a yellow warning saying that Java can not be installed on Safari browser Version 12 and above?

That error is just for web applications. You can still install on the MAC to run programs that use it (of which there are 1000s). Try this link:

Login Issues (username / password)

It's almost always 100% user-error (even if you are convinced otherwise)

The Bot will ask for your FormGenie credentials first and only once logged in will it ask for your Betfair credentials.

Step1: Make sure you can login to the main FormGenie website and view selections first as you will use your existing FormGenie username/password combination.

Step2: Make sure you can login to the main Betfair website using your BF username/password combination (not FormGenie).

Only if both the above scenarios work (if not it could still be user-error usually because your web browser is remembering the password and when you manually enter it's something different) got to step 3:

Step3: Then login to the bot with the same FormGenie credentials (if you’ve saved your password to your web browser then make sure you are using the same one . If successful you will then need to login to the next screen with your BetFair credentials (WE DO NOT HAVE THESE – DO NOT TELL US).

The authentication at this stage comes from Betfair and not our servers. So if you are still not getting access it is almost certainly an incorrect username/password.

Step 4: Try typing what you think are your BetFair credentials into notepad/text file and copy/paste into Betfair website. If they work, cut and paste and use the same password into the bot screen.

Step 5: If all else fails, it could be that you are using more than one special character in your Betfair password (such as &, %, / *). Try changing your BF password to have none of these or just one special character.

Step 6: If you use Two-Factor authorisation to access Betfair you may need to append your Betfair password with the PIN you would use or try disabling Two-factor authorisation.

No Races Found

Reason 1: If you've entered the Authorisation Token and loaded a profile, but when you click Activate Races you get a pop-up message 'No Races Found', it may be that your firewall is blocking communication between the Bot and Betfair servers.

Reason 2: It could be you have tried to load regular races after 3:30 PM and sometimes this is not possible. Try closing down/restarting and selecting Steamers as these will still available (and are the recommended set of ratings for the bot).

To fix you need to access your firewall settings and go to 'Advanced' settings. Make sure that you set 'Inbound' and 'Outbound' traffic in the 'Public Domain' to 'Allow', select FGBOT and Enable rule.

Mac Issues (also see java fix from the menu)

If you don't have permission to open a file or folder, you may be able to change the permissions settings:
On your Mac, select the item, then choose File > Get Info, or press Command-I.
Click the arrow next to Sharing & Permissions to expand the section.

Open a Mac app from an unidentified developer
If you try to open an app that isn’t registered with Apple by an identified developer (that's us!), you may get a warning dialogue. This doesn't necessarily mean that something’s wrong with the app. However, the app has not been reviewed by Apple, and macOS can’t check whether the app has been modified or broken since it was released.

To override your security settings and open the app anyway follow these steps:
In the Finder on your Mac, locate the app you want to open.
Don’t use Launchpad to do this. Launchpad doesn’t allow you to access the shortcut menu.
Control-click the app icon, then choose Open from the shortcut menu.
Click Open.
The app is saved as an exception to your security settings, and you can open it in the future by double-clicking it just as you can any registered app.
Note: You can also grant an exception for a blocked app by clicking the Open Anyway button in the General pane of Security & Privacy preferences. This button is available for about an hour after you try to open the app.
To change these preferences on your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then click General.

MAC "The application can't be opened" - Dont forget to install JAVA from here:

If still without success then try installing the Linux version of Formgenie-Bot from the download page as some MACs should run this fine.

Betfair API Status (markets & races not loading)

It maybe that Betfair's servers are down. Please click this status link to check: BF API Check

Anti-Virus Warnings

Sometimes you PC / Mac may warn you when you attempt install new programs. This is both normal and sensible.

If you get this message: "Running this app might put your PC at risk." then click the "more info" link that's below it. Then click "run anyway". This message is simply to tell you that something is about to install itself and only allow it if you trust where it's from and as you downloaded it from us you can trust it.

Some Anti-Virus programs may prevent you for unpacking the downloaded Zip file or run and scan and return a false positive. Whilst this may be a little unsettling it's just a case of your antivirus software being over cautious. Where there is an option to "allow" then select this.

Access Denied / Subscription Token

You will have by now purchased a licence for FormGenie-Bot. As such and only if you have requested one, you will have been provided with a subscription token, formatted like FPKT-AJWU-GLOI. This is unique to you and will need to be entered once (and updated when expired) before the FormGenie-Bot will load the markets. If you have cut 'n pasted, be sure you have not inadvertently added any blank spaces. Please try entering again and if you still have trouble please email Steve. NOTE: Once activated this Auth-Token is locked to the associated Betfair account and cannot be transferred to a different bf account.

Races or Horses Missed

Why has the Bot not placed a bet or omitted a race?

See the red Status Report to the right of the race header for a possible reason.

'No races match your criteria' message?

Unless you have selected 'Auto-Load' at start up, this can happen if you have tried to load the races without closing the bot down first and clearing the previously loaded races. Simply logout, close down and restart the bot.

What do the various Red Status reports mean?

Status Report	Meaning
Race Omitted: No Places	There are no place backs available that satisfy the set Place parameters set in row 6.
Race Omitted: X Previous Races not Settled	Awaiting confirmation of the official result. Could be delayed by photo finish or stewards enquiry. User has the option to use Provisional Results (row 10) to allow the bot to play the next race without waiting for the official result. If an abandonment happens during racing and you don't have 'Use Provisional Results' ticked, the Bot will not place any more bets as it thinks it needs to wait for the latest result. The only solution is to close down and restart.
Race Omitted: A Runner(s) < Min Back Price of X	A Top rated selection does not meet the minimum odds requirement set in 6.
Race Omitted: Dutch Selection(s) < Min Dutch Price of X	A Dutch/Top selection does not meet the minimum odds requirement set in row 10.
Race Omitted: Coupled Price: X <= Default MinCoupled Price: Y	The current Coupled Odds of the shortest 2 selections is below the value set in row 10.
Race Omitted: Current Coupled Price: X <= Current MinCoupled Price: Y	The current Coupled Odds of the shortest 2 selections is below the value set in row 10, but is adjusted by the 'DynamicMin Coupled price in row 10.
Race Omitted: Coupled Price: X > MaxCoupled Price: Y	The current Coupled Odds of the shortest 2 selections is higher the value set in row 10.
Stopped at Winner	The bot stopped at the first winner as set in row 2.
Stopped: Winner at X Races from End of Card	The bot has stopped at a given race count from the end of the loaded races.
Stopped: Day Profit 'xx' > 'xx'	The bot has reached the profit as set in row 2.
Stopped: Session Loss > 'xx'	The bot has reached the Loss as set in row 2
RunnerName] [lastMatchedPrice] < [dutchMinPrice]	The last matched price is less than the Min Dutch price as set in row 10
RunnerName] [lastMatchedPrice] < backMinPrice]	The last matched price is less than the Min Back (Top rated) price as set in row 10
Race Omitted: Market Inactive	The race may have been void/abandoned and the bot is awaiting confirmation of the official result. The result could be delayed by photo finish or stewards enquiry. User has the option to use Provisional Results (row 10) to allow the bot to play the next race without waiting for the official result. If an abandonment happens during racing and you don't have 'Use Provisional Results' ticked, the Bot will not place any more bets as it thinks it needs to wait for the latest result. The only solution is to close down and restart.
Race Omitted: An Eq Dutch Stake would need to be reduced by > 75%	The Bot has an in-built maximum Stakes Reduction of 75%. This means the Bot is governed by the Max Liability stake, but will only place the bet/s if the stake does not have to be reduced by more than 75% to return a profit. This is basically because the Bot can't reach 100% of the recovery amount based on your Max Stake. So it looks to recover the minimum. However, it will not attempt to recover more than the default target if the Max Stake has to be reduced by more 75%. This is to avoid huge stakes for a disproportionate return.
Stopped: Total Win Probability [totalWinProbability] > 1	The combined odds of the selections are too short to return a profit
Stopped: A Dutch Stake was > XXX	The Dutch Stake required to return the target amount exceeds your Max Stake. So the Bot voided the race.
Race Omitted: Coupled Price: -1.0 = or less than Default Min Coupled Price of XX.	The Bot has lost connection to Betfair servers and cannot calculate the min coupled odds value so is returning -1. Confirm BF status update. If OK then it's your wifi connection that has dropped out. (MACs are bad for this. Consider using a VPS).
Race Omitted: Failed to get Market for 600 secs	1. There is a connection issue from your machine to Betfair. It maybe a local issue or a Betfair issue. You can Check Betfair's API status here. Since your races are already loaded into the Bot this error message has nothing to do with our servers. If you get this message you will have to logout and restart the bot (though this may not fix the underlying cause). Any bets scheduled may have already been submitted and you should be able to see these on the loaded race tabs. Anything still waiting to be submitted will not have been. In this instance you should login to your Betfair account and see what has been matched/unmatched. 2. This can happen if you are using a Laptop/MAC and it's gone into Power Save or Hibernation. It is therefore advisable to switch off any such features. If this issue persists it could be the case that your internet connection drops out when there is no internet activity i.e between races (this particular problem is more common with MACs using Wifi - search Google for more info). You could try running a browser in the background connected to a constant stream something like sky news or a radio station to keep the connection alive. Or you can try having a 2nd instance of the bot running profile #13. This simply monitors the markets and is constantly polling Betfair. If you continue to have problems, you may need to use a hardwire to your router, use a PC or use a VPS service.
Max dutch selections reduced to two	This is because The LINK MIN COUPLED PRICE is ticked: This works by linking the 'MinCoupled Odds' the bot will accept to the size of the current target. So if the 3rd horse's odds are too short then the Bot will only place stakes on the other 2 selections.
Race Omitted: < [minRunners] Runners	There are too few runners in this race to satisfy the setting in row 4.
MaxDutches reduced to lowest odds. MinCoupled linked to Target	If the combined odds of the shortest priced horse's odds are relatively short when linked to the next recovery target, then the Bot will exclude the 3rd/4th selections and only place stakes on the 2 shortest priced selections. This keeps stakes lower. It's optional and whilst you may find an excluded selection wins on occasion, its' use is advisable. The calculation is: MinCoupled Odds must be =< Current Target X 0.5%, else only 2 qualifiers are backed. This figure has a ceiling of 4.0, so if the Min Coupled Odds >4.0 all Top/Dutch qualifiers will be included.

What does 'Unable to reach market for 600 seconds' message mean?

1. Although very rare, this means the connection between your bot (not our servers) and Betfair has disconnected. It could be an issue local to you (dropped internet connection etc) or Betfair's own servers.
1a) You can check by seeing if you can login directly to Betfair (via a web browser).
1b) BF use diferent servers for the Bot API so you may also need to check Betfair's API status here.

Since your races are already loaded into the Bot this error message has nothing to do with FormGenie servers. If you get this message you will have to logout and restart the bot (though this may not fix the underlying cause). Any bets scheduled may have already been submitted and you should be able to see these on the loaded race tabs. Anything still waiting to be submitted will not have been. In this instance you should login to your Betfair account and see what has been matched/unmatched.

2. This can happen if you are using a Laptop and it's gone into Power Save or Hibernation. It's therefore advisable to switch off any such features. If this issue persists it could be the case that your intent connection drops out when there is no internet activity i.e between races. You could try running a browser in the background connected to something like sky news or a radio station to keep the connecting alive. Or you can try having a 2nd instance of the bot running profile #13. This simply monitors the markets and is constantly polling Betfair.

What happens if there are NonRunners?

The bot will substitute selections that become NonRunners by promoting the next ranked horse as long as the FormGenie Dutch 'runners to selections' ratio is still satisfied. However, the bot will only do this if the Min Stars parameter (Row 6) is set to zero. When a substitute is used it will be highlighted in orange. If the original Top Rated is a non runner, the next ranked will be promoted to Top. An up-arrow in the blue cell will indicate this has occurred. Rest assured there is a strong correlation between the FormGenie ratings rank and winners - so promoting them is perfectly logical.

What do the P&L Figures tell me?

This graphic should explain:
£36.06 is the profit since the bot was started (so could be several days or just 1 race ago).
£84.57 is the profit today including any carried over losses from yesterday.
£73.21 is the loss carried forward from yesterday (or the last time the bot was restarted).
£11.46 is the profit from today excluding any carried-forward losses that may now been recovered. This is the day-profit and therefore the StopProfit fig the bot will work to today.