Terms and Conditions

This website www.earlythoughts.com.au (website or site) is for horse racing and sports betting information and tips. Early Thoughts is owned and operated by Early Thought Pty Limited (ACN 654 230 967) (Early Thoughts, we, us or our). References to Early Thoughts in these Terms and Conditions includes our directors, employees, agents, assigns, contractors, contributors to our site (Contributors) and our associates and related bodies corporate.

Anyone using information contained on this site must be 18 years of age or older.

By using, visiting or accessing our site, subscribing to our site and/or newsletter or purchasing one of the Products or Services on our site, you are deemed to have read, understood and accepted these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, you must cease accessing and using our site immediately and terminate your subscription in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

We reserve the right to alter these Terms and Conditions at any time. Where the changes are material, we will provide you with reasonable notice of the changes on our website before the amendments take effect. By continuing to use our site after the amendments take effect, you agree to be bound by the Terms and Conditions as amended.

1.            Overview

(a)           Early Thoughts is not a bookmaking organisation. Our site provides information and tips and is not a gambling site. Our site does not collect, process, transact or pay out bets of any kind.

(b)           While we believe in our tips, we do not provide a guarantee. Members should be aware that betting is a form of gambling which is risky and members can lose their entire bet. Early Thoughts is not responsible for members’ losses and will not provide refunds in respect of gambling monies lost.

(c)           Early Thoughts does not provide any assurances or guarantees that any of the runners, races and events which have been the subject of tips by Early Thoughts have not been scratched, cancelled, postponed or otherwise varied. In the event that any such runner or event is scratched, cancelled, postponed or varied Early Thoughts accepts no responsibility.

(d)           Early Thoughts encourages responsible gambling. Early Thoughts wants you to be in control of your gambling at all times and not allow your gambling to control you. You should ensure that, when making a decision to follow the Early Thoughts tips, you do so in a controlled manner with the key principle to only gamble what you can afford to lose. Early Thoughts may, at its discretion, prevent access to our Products and Services and our site if we believe any member is displaying behaviour, sending correspondence or giving indications that could be viewed as indicative of being compulsive or providing us with reason to suspect that the person may have a gambling problem.

2.            Subscriptions

(a)           Early Thoughts offers both a free newsletter and monthly subscription package. To become a subscriber, you must:

(i)            be at least 18 years of age;

(ii)           create an account and become a member. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your account and password. If you do not notify us that the security of your password has been compromised, we will be entitled to assume that all activity connected to your account is conducted by you; and

(iii)          select a subscription package and pay a subscription fee, if any, in advance (in accordance with the terms and conditions of your subscription package).

(b)           Payment for subscriptions may be made by Visa, MasterCard or American Express debit or credit cards. We will cancel your subscription if the subscription fee is not paid in advance.

(c)           You expressly authorise us to automatically charge your credit or debit card for each subscription payment.

(d)           We reserve the right to review and alter our subscription fees. We will provide you with reasonable notice of any changes to subscription fees before the changes take effect.

(e)           You are required to notify us if you wish to make changes to your subscription, such as changing your contact details or payment details. You can notify us by sending an email to info@earlythoughts.com.au and providing details of the change you would like us to make to your account.

(f)            Tips will ordinarily be provided by the day/time indicated on the website.

3.            Cancelling your subscription

(a)           We utilise recurring memberships on all packages for your convenience. Your membership will automatically roll over for a further term and be billed to your credit card after your initial membership period has expired unless you cancel your subscription in accordance with this clause.

(b)           You may cancel your subscription by emailing info@earlythoughts.com.au with the subject line ‘Cancel my membership’ and including your name, username, email and membership type.

(c)           Cancellation requests must be received at least 5 Business Days before the end of the month to take effect before your next payment is processed. Otherwise your monthly charge will be processed for the following month and your cancellation will take effect at the end of that following month.

(d)           All cancellations take effect at the end of the month and there will be no pro-rata refunds provided for cancellation requests received mid-month.

(e)           If a Contributor changes, but the service continues with a new Contributor, this does not entitle you to have any portion of your membership payment refunded or otherwise changed.

(f)            We may cancel your subscription at any time if we suspect, on reasonable grounds, that you are in breach of any of these Terms and Conditions.

4.            Prices and other charges

(a)           All references on the site to $ and dollars are to Australian currency.

(b)           Early Thoughts only accepts payments in AUD$. If you are paying for subscriptions in a currency other than AUD$, members must ensure that the amount is sufficient following conversion into AUD$ by the receiving bank. Any applicable refunds will be paid in AUD$. We accept no foreign exchange risk.

(c)           All pricing includes goods and services tax unless otherwise indicated.

5.            Ownership and Intellectual Property Rights

(a)           For your own personal reference and use only, you can print off one copy from the member section our site.

(b)           You agree that the tips provided to you by Early Thoughts are for your own use only and you agree not to provide them to other third-parties including bookmakers, or on-sell them in any form. The sharing of the tips in any form is strictly prohibited.

(c)           Our tips, newsletters and the contents of our site (Website Information) constitute our proprietary, confidential information and intellectual property which is only available for your own personal use. In the event that you disclose, publish or share any Website Information or content on our site or otherwise provided by us to you as ‘member only content’ with any third party, or allow your confidential access details to be shared or used by any person other than you, Early Thoughts reserves the right to pursue you for losses, costs, expenses, damage and/or compensation and any other legal remedies available to us.

(d)           We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights (including, without limitation, trademarks and copyright) in our site, and in the material published on it (including, without limitation, its look and feel, brands such as the Early Thoughts logo content, and all intellectual property rights contained therein).

(e)           From time to time, in the course of events or activities associated with your membership, we may take photographs and/or video footage in which you may be identifiable. You agree that any material obtained may be used in any of our advertisements, materials or merchandise without any compensation to you.

6.            Access and Registration

(a)           We will not be liable to you for any liabilities, losses, costs, damages, expenses or charges if our site or part thereof is unavailable for any reason. Only current, approved and registered members will have access to member only pages of our site. Acceptance of such subscription is at our absolute discretion.

(b)           If you choose or are provided with log-in details, a user identification name and/or password (“log-in information”), you must treat this log-in information as confidential and keep it secure.

(c)           If you become aware of any unauthorised use or compromise of your log-in information, you must notify us immediately.

(d)           We have absolute discretion to suspend or terminate your account at any time without refund for violation of these terms.

7.            Disclaimer and Liability

(a)           Early Thoughts does not warrant that its Products and Services will be suitable for any particular purpose.

(b)           Early Thoughts takes all reasonable care in preparing and compiling its information and content displayed on the site. We accept no responsibility however for inaccuracies, typographical errors or completeness of the information displayed on the website, nor warrant the accuracy of the information displayed.

(c)           All tips, recommendations, suggestions, commentary, predictions, past performance statistics, analysis and/or other information displayed on the site or in our newsletter (Betting Information) reflect the subjective opinion of the Contributors and does not constitute advice nor reflect the opinion of Early Thoughts, even when created or reproduced by us. Early Thoughts recommends you undertake your own enquiries and research in relation to the validity of the Betting Information. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Any monetary investment based on information displayed on our site including the Betting Information is at your own risk. All Betting Information displayed via our site or otherwise, is provided, without any guarantees, conditions or warranties. You should check all information relating to race fields with an official source.

(d)           To the extent permitted by law, we expressly disclaim and exclude:

(i)            all conditions, warranties and terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity.

(ii)           liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage, claims, costs, expenses or injury incurred by any person in connection with our site and/or newsletter, including the Betting Information and/or the Products and Services provided via our site (directly or indirectly) or any of the links provided on the site or reliance by you or any person upon information contained or downloaded from this site.

(e)           To the extent permitted by law, our liability is limited:

(i)            In the case of any goods supplied by us, the replacement or repair of the goods, or the supply of equivalent goods, or the payment of the cost of repairing or replacing the goods or supplying equivalent goods; and

(ii)           In the case of any services provided by us, the supply of the services again or the payment of the cost of having the services supplied again.

(f)            In no event shall our maximum aggregate liability exceed one thousand dollars (AUD$500.00) or the total amount of money paid by a member to Early Thoughts in the six-month period prior to the date of the claim (whichever is the lowest amount).

(g)           You hereby indemnify and release us from and against all actions, claims, suits, demands, damages, liabilities or costs (including legal costs), injuries, losses and/or damages suffered or incurred, or likely to be suffered or incurred, by you or any third party arising from, or which are directly or indirectly related to the use by you or any third party of our site, your misuse of our site, your use or reliance upon the Betting Information and/or in relation to our products or services.

8.            Force Majeure

(a)           This clause applies for events out of our control (Force Majeure Events), including but not limited to:

(i)            cyber warfare, cyber attacks, ransomware attacks or cyber-sabotage;

(ii)           war, hostilities (whether war is declared or not), invasions, acts of foreign enemies, civil war, sabotage or piracy;

(iii)          rebellion, terrorism, revolution, insurrection, military or usurped power, riots, civil

(iv)          commotion or disorder;

(v)           operation of the forces of nature such as earthquakes, hurricanes, lightning, typhoons or volcanic activity;

(vi)          work stoppages

(vii)         outbreaks of disease, epidemics, pandemics or quarantine; and

(viii)        acts of government authority, whether lawful or unlawful.

(b)           If a Force Majeure Event impacts on horse racing, refunds are not applicable but the service and memberships will be paused until it can resume (hence no time will be lost and your membership will be extended by the period of time the service had to be paused).

(c)           If a Force Majeure Event impacts on a sporting event or competition, no refunds will be provided and no extension will apply to memberships.

9.            Third Party Links and offers

(a)           The site may contain hyperlinks, images, banners and advertisements to third party websites not operated by Early Thoughts or related to Early Thoughts.

(b)           You acknowledge and agree that:

(i)            these links do not indicate (expressly or impliedly) that we endorse the external site or its products or services;

(ii)           is not responsible for the contents of any linked website and/or third-party website; and

(iii)          you access those sites solely at your own risk.

(c)           Early Thoughts has no control over these sites and will not accept any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage suffered by you arising from or caused by any linked site.

(d)           By becoming a subscriber, you consent to receiving information and links to third party websites. Early Thoughts may link to affiliate programs, and may earn affiliate income in the form of sales commissions, marketing fees, royalties, rebates, and points from links you click on. You agree that we do not guarantee the suitability, quality, price, functionality, or safety of any products or services offered by affiliates.

10.          Unacceptable activity

(a)           You agree that you will not:

(i)            use the site for any activities that will infringe any third party’s rights, or breach any laws, regulations or other industry standards;

(ii)           use the site in a way that interferes with other users or patrons use of the site;

(iii)          make fraudulent requests or enquiries through the site;

(iv)          impersonate another person or use their details without their permission when using the site;

(v)           transmit, or post any obscene, defamatory, indecent, or pornographic material on the site;

(vi)          hinder the operation of the site;

(vii)         knowingly transmit viruses, worms, defects, trojan horses, or similar disabling or malicious code to the site;

(viii)        use any spider, robot, site search and retrieval application or other mechanism to retriever or index any portion of the site;

(ix)          modify any part of the site; or

(x)           attempt any of the above acts or engage another person to do any of the above acts.

11.          Viruses, faults and defects

(a)           You acknowledge and agree that:

(i)            Early Thoughts does not claim that any information or files contained on the site are free from viruses or other defects and faults;

(ii)           Early Thoughts has no responsibility or liability to you or any other person for any loss or damage (direct, indirect, consequential or economic), regardless of cause, negligence or otherwise, which may be the result of any such information; and

(iii)          you are responsible for scanning any information and files contained on the site for viruses.

(b)           You are responsible for scanning any information on the site for viruses. We recommend that all users of the Internet ensure that they have up to date virus checking software installed.

(c)           If Early Thoughts is found to be liable this will be limited to the cost of supplying the information again.

12.          Privacy

See our Privacy Policy at https://earlythoughts.com.au/privacy-policy/ for more information on how and why personal information is collected, held and disclosed.

13.          Advertising Content

(a)           We may display advertising, sponsored or commercial content (collectively Advertising Content) on the site, and you herby agree that Early Thoughts may place such Advertising Content on the site.  The mode, manner and extent of the Advertising Content may change from time to time without specific notice provided to you.

(b)           Some Advertising Content displayed on the site may be based on information collected from tracking technologies. These technologies are used to find tune the Advertising Content to products and services that better suit your needs.

14.          Severability

If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is deemed invalid, void or for any reason unenforceable, that provision shall be deemed severable from the other provisions of these Terms and Conditions and shall not affect the enforceability of any other provision of these Terms and Conditions.

15.          Governing Law

These Terms and Conditions will be governed, read and construed in all respects with the laws of the State of Queensland, Australia.

16.          Definitions

(a)           In these Terms and Conditions unless the context requires:

Business Day means a day on which banking institutions generally are open in Brisbane, Queensland but excluding Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays in Brisbane, Queensland.

Products mean any Products sold on the site by Early Thoughts.

Service/s means any services provided by Early Thoughts, including but not limited to tipping selections and the newsletter.