What's new

Do you enjoy gambling?

JCRD

Well-Known Member
Aug 10, 2018
19,153
30,013
I bet about £30-£50 a week on accumulators - it makes my saturdays more interesting as i wouldnt care about football otherwise, with the exception of Spurs.

I bet a tenner an accumuator and really i have about 10 teams in it - i aim for wins over £1k - majority of the time i wont win but have won a few grand over the years although i suspect im more or less breaking even
 

stonecolddeanaustin

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2011
1,623
2,598
If I'm out drinking on a Saturday afternoon I won't usually put a bet on, it's when I stay home on a Saturday afternoon that I'll most probably have a £5 acca running on the football.

For me, it adds a little excitement to the afternoon whilst flicking in and out of Soccer Saturday and the score updates.

Used to do a place pot on the horses, but only really back horses at Cheltenham festival now.

A closing story...sat with mates in my local one afternoon a few weeks back, horseracing on the TV next to our table
( sure it was Newmarket )

So, we're all their chatting, one eye on the TV. The horses are paraded out and led down towards start.

About 5 minutes before race I tell my mates who I fancy to win. Horse romps up 7/1 winner.

Next race, again before they've even entered the stalls call a 25/1 each way. Horse places 3rd, quarter of the odds.

My mates are now taking note, one or two passing the paper asking who I fancy in the next.

There were seven races that afternoon. I picked a selection at least 5 minutes before every race and ended up picking 6 winners and the 25/1 third place each way.

But here's the thing. Although a bookies is no more than 2 shops away from the pub I drink in, I didn't put one penny on any of the horses I picked.

My mates however did, they went with my selections and we're nipping out and backing them as winners.

They bought me plenty of drinks and we had quite a session come the end.

8/1s 7/1s 3/1s 25/1 e.w had it all going on.

Certainly felt like the main man for the afternoon. All and sundry buying me drinks for them gambling with their money after being daft enough to think I have some superior knowledge about horses than them.

Have to admit, great afternoon and glad my mates made a tidy profit.

Hmmm... I will also be taking note next time you put a horse in the horse racing thread!
 

cider spurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2016
9,399
23,731
Hmmm... I will also be taking note next time you put a horse in the horse racing thread!

Lol. Trust me, you don't want to follow my selections when it comes to horses. That was flukey of the highest order.

However, on one particular day during @Houdini's World famous horseracing tipster competitions, I did secure over 90 points in one afternoon alone. o_O :sneaky:
 

ajspurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2007
22,987
31,167
I bet about £30-£50 a week on accumulators - it makes my saturdays more interesting as i wouldnt care about football otherwise, with the exception of Spurs.

I bet a tenner an accumuator and really i have about 10 teams in it - i aim for wins over £1k - majority of the time i wont win but have won a few grand over the years although i suspect im more or less breaking even

I used to do this but never ended up winning anything. Now I'm slowly building money in my account by making 'safe' bets, like for 5 or so of PSG, Bayern, Man City, Juventus, Liverpool, Atletico, Celtic etc. to all win but if it doesn't look likely I won't bet anything. I do accompany it with a less likely but bigger reward bet in which I don't put much down too but I normally end up making a profit over the bets.

Done a few tennis bets for the first round of the US Open which feel easier than football accumulators as depending on the draws, the likes of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Zverev, Del Portro and such will very rarely lose to someone ranked as low as the opponent they're facing. With those top players I feel like there's less of a 'anything can happen' scenario that you have with football. Interested to see how they go!
 

jonnyrotten

SC Supporter
Aug 16, 2006
2,114
3,721
I enjoy a flutter on the horses but very occasionally. Only at races or in the bookies too, never online as it's too dangerous so I don't have any accounts. The more you bet the more you are likely to lose, and I feel really sorry for people that have got trapped onto betting every day/hour by the relentless ads and bs peddled out by the betting companies. It's adversely affecting young working class men, and the shops generally open up on poorer areas. It's a false economy and another example of how our country is going to the dogs if you'll excuse the pun.
 

LSUY

Well-Known Member
Jul 12, 2005
24,010
66,826
I do enjoy gambling. Only the other day the missus asked if her dress made her look fat and I answered yes. No greater high than gambling with your life.

But seriously, I enjoy the occasional flutter on the big horse racing meetings and put on a weekly acca on football and NFL as it makes watching neutral matches more exciting.
 
Last edited:

tototoner

Staying Alert
Mar 21, 2004
29,387
34,059
Just got this up, used a free bet for part of it also.

IMG-20180910-WA0009.jpg
 

Azazello

The Boney King of Nowhere
Aug 15, 2009
6,965
5,069
I get the thrill of beating the bookies, but they must be selling odds that put the punter at a disadvantage.

I’ve never been in a betting shop, but do get a kick from doing things where the outcome is uncertain.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
I get the thrill of beating the bookies, but they must be selling odds that put the punter at a disadvantage.

It's not necessarily that the punter is at a disadvantage per se, more that the odds offered by the bookie are not a fair reflection of the probability of each outcome so you need to keep that in mind when interpreting the odds being offered.

The art of being a bookmaker is setting the odds just right so that they make a profit no matter what the outcome of the game/race etc. If they set the odds too long then they risk having to pay out big money but if they set the odds too short then the bet isn't attractive enough to punters because the reward isn't perceived as big enough to offset the risk i.e. nobody is going to stake 100 quid on a bet that will return them their 100 quid back plus 50p profit because it's just not worth the risk.

They also have to try and get the right % of people betting on each outcome so they'll manipulate the odds again to make it less attractive to bet on an outcome that they've got too many people betting on, and more attractive to bet on an outcome that not enough people have bet on yet.

That's one aspect that people seem to forget time and time again. Just because the odds of one horse winning are lengthening, doesn't necessarily mean the probability of that horse winning has changed, it could just be that the bookie has had too many bets on another horse and not enough on this one so they're trying to tempt people to bet on this horse by giving them a higher potential return on their bet. In the same way, when you have things like "next manager to be sacked" bets and the odds on Mourinho are shortening, that doesn't necessarily mean that the bookies have some kind of ITK that he's being sacked, it could simply be that due to all the media stories etc. loads of people have stuck a cheeky bet on Mourinho to be sacked and so they shorten the odds to make it a less attractive bet to other potential punters because if the bookie has too many people betting on Mourinho and then he does in fact get sacked, they stand to lose too much money etc.
 

fortworthspur

Well-Known Member
Nov 12, 2007
11,244
17,536
I dont gamble other than friendly wagers with friends over an upcoming game now and again. Casinos have no allure to me, knowing the house has the odds in what is a probability exercise most of the time. I guess poker is different as there is a great deal of psychology involved but Im a bad liar.
 

nattydredd

Non Contributor
Jul 20, 2015
1,103
4,412
Should ban all gambling adverts IMO. Should do like they've done with cigs etc. where it's allowed but just can't be advertised.

Ban them all before 10pm at the very minimum. #Allegedly there are 1000's of 16 and under kids addicted to gambling.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
I dont gamble other than friendly wagers with friends over an upcoming game now and again. Casinos have no allure to me, knowing the house has the odds in what is a probability exercise most of the time. I guess poker is different as there is a great deal of psychology involved but Im a bad liar.

Some games you can help sway the odds slightly one way or another if you've got the skill/strategy down but ultimately all the games at a casino come down to luck. Even the world greatest poker players are relying on knowing the probability of various hands/cards and subsequently knowing when it's worth taking a gamble and when it's better to fold.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
Ban them all before 10pm at the very minimum. #Allegedly there are 1000's of 16 and under kids addicted to gambling.

This seems like a no-brainer. Would be a good start and would be relatively unopposed I would imagine. Could then pave the way toward banning advertising of gambling altogether a few years down the line as well.
 

dontcallme

SC Supporter
Mar 18, 2005
33,986
81,917
Have been on a winning streak recently. I put £200 in my gambling account and when there is over £230 in the account I take out the excess to bring it back down to £200.

Then got a whole bunch of bets wrong and my account is down to zero. Never though that would happen.

So I decided to go through all my transactions to see how much I am up for the football season. £550 up. So despite this setback things are going well.
 

Led's Zeppelin

Can't Re Member
May 28, 2013
7,333
20,178
Warning; old-timer speaking...

I spent a while working at Ladbroke’s head office many years ago when it was still just off Carnaby Street, while I was still at school, as a very junior part-time assistant (tea-boy and clerk) to the overall boss.

Saturday afternoons were incredible, especially when big football matches coincided with big race meetings. Having watched how they set the odds, responding all the time to incoming info on the bets being placed around the world, without even using computers but recalculating odds in their heads, and always going home happy, I would never in a million years bet against them with anything more than I would be very happy to lose. Which is very little indeed.

As @'O Zio says, odds are only very loosely related to form, and then only at the start, and are just the way the bookies balance the incomings with the range of potential outgoings so as to maintain a positive margin no matter what the outcome. They are never a prediction of what they think is likely to happen. They aren't mugs! Of course it can't work 100% of the time, but close enough to keep them in profit. Where they lose money has always been bad business decisions, not getting beaten by the punters.

But the biggest lesson I learned was seeing the accounts of the “professional” or regular gamblers. One of the menial jobs I had was totting up figures for various reports written by other people, so I saw a lot of accumulated information.

Very, very few clients made a net profit over a year, and when they did it was small (I only worked there for 2 years mind) and as far as I could tell, most seemed to be using the wealth they must have made in other areas such as property or other businesses they owned, or in a few cases they were famous entertainers or sportsmen. The very few who turned a profit made such a tiny return on their total stakes over an extended period that financially they’d have been significantly better off buying premium bonds. Or in most cases, doing nothing but collecting interest. Or just doing nothing.

It’s obviously not the winnings that keep people going, because the winnings are trivial when they exist at all. It must be the adrenaline, but Ive never quite understood how easily it becomes an addiction, and why the addicts so rarely see it in themselves. I imagine the way it works is that as with most drugs, the only way to keep the highs as high as you remember them is to increase the amount, in this case the amount you put at risk. So the winners are usually the ones who stop first.

I’m still surprised that the legislation is so relaxed. I’m not in favour of making it illegal by any means, but I would welcome much better ways of limiting the exposure individuals can take.
 
Last edited:

dontcallme

SC Supporter
Mar 18, 2005
33,986
81,917
Warning; old-timer speaking...

I spent a while working at Ladbroke’s head office many years ago when it was still just off Carnaby Street, while I was still at school, as a very junior part-time assistant (tea-boy and clerk) to the overall boss.

Saturday afternoons were incredible, especially when big football matches coincided with big race meetings. Having watched how they set the odds, responding all the time to incoming info on the bets being placed around the world, without even using computers but recalculating odds in their heads, and always going home happy, I would never in a million years bet against them with anything more than I would be very happy to lose. Which is very little indeed.

As @'O Zio says, odds are only very loosely related to form, and then only at the start, and are just the way the bookies balance the incomings with the range of potential outgoings so as to maintain a positive margin no matter what the outcome. They are never a prediction of what they think is likely to happen. They aren't mugs! Of course it can't work 100% of the time, but close enough to keep them in profit. Where they lose money has always been bad business decisions, not getting beaten by the punters.

But the biggest lesson I learned was seeing the accounts of the “professional” or regular gamblers. One of the menial jobs I had was totting up figures for various reports written by other people, so I saw a lot of accumulated information.

Very, very few clients made a net profit over a year, and when they did it was small (I only worked there for 2 years mind) and as far as I could tell, most seemed to be using the wealth they must have made in other areas such as property or other businesses they owned, or in a few cases they were famous entertainers or sportsmen. The very few who turned a profit made such a tiny return on their total stakes over an extended period that financially they’d have been significantly better off buying premium bonds. Or in most cases, doing nothing but collecting interest. Or just doing nothing.

It’s obviously not the winnings that keep people going, because the winnings are trivial when they exist at all. It must be the adrenaline, but Ive never quite understood how easily it becomes an addiction, and why the addicts so rarely see it in themselves. I imagine the way it works is that as with most drugs, the only way to keep the highs as high as you remember them is to increase the amount, in this case the amount you put at risk. So the winners are usually the ones who stop first.

I’m still surprised that the legislation is so relaxed. I’m not in favour of making it illegal by any means, but I would welcome much better ways of limiting the exposure individuals can take.

It’s interesting to hear about it from a bookies side.

I started gambling 4 years ago and have consistently made a small profit. Around £200 a year then this year I have almost tripled that.

Reality is football fans know football and if you bet correctly and logically there is no reason you cannot win.

Partisanship plays a part in skewing the odds so a game like Liverpool in the CL final is a gamblers dream. Wait for the scousers to bet on their team and then bet against it.

I have a pragmatic approach and have made a few mistakes.

But if you bet on what you know then there’s no reason you cannot win.
 
Top