You seriously reckon you could swing the outcome of a Premiership football match with ‘a word in your mates ear’ – a mate who’s enormous salary depends on it – so that you could win few quid on the bookies?

Yeah, probably. Depends on the match, of course, but one with nothing riding on it? And I’m guessing the experts agree, otherwise it would be allowed.

I worked for a bookie when I was at Uni. In Shops, football stadiums, race courses and online poker. I don’t want to work in that industry again. I turned down some work last year once I found out it was for an online gambling company. I have spoken to too many people to have been broken by their addiction.
I will always remember someone from the shops who’s wife kicked him out when he had gambled their family Christmas money away. He got to see his son once a week after that. On that one day his son would be stood outside the shop, sometimes for hours. I don’t think the dad was a bad person, his addiction had such a control over him it was destroying his life and who he was.

Did the lottery until they doubled it from £1 to £2 then jacked it.

Lottery is a tricky one. I heard an interview one time with a stats / maths / gambling related expert about the Pools (I do mean pools this time – where you pick games, get points for the result – win, no score draw, score draw, etc.) and they pay out for the # points) – but lottery would be broadly the same.

He was saying that even for pro’s who studied form and had knowledge it was so unpredictable that to win by getting 8 score draws was nearly impossible, and that based on stats your chance of winning was so low that it wasn’t worth doing. And lottery is pure random so you don’t even have the benefit of form and knowledge.

However; he also said that for such a minimal stake (and even £2 a week is hardly expensive*) vs if you do win it’ll be millions (ignore the smaller prize stuff for now, that just makes it even more worthwhile) – he basically said you’d almost be daft not to be in because even though all probability says it won’t be you, it will be someone and that someone might be you and if it is then WOW!

* Yes, I know £2 a week is £100 a year or £1000/ 10 years and whatever but YKWIM. It becomes an issue when you think 2 tickets doubles your chances, so why not 4, or 6 or….. and technically it does but it turns them from virtually nil to still virtually nil

However; he also said that for such a minimal stake (and even £2 a week is hardly expensive*) vs if you do win it’ll be millions (ignore the smaller prize stuff for now, that just makes it even more worthwhile) – he basically said you’d almost be daft not to be in because even though all probability says it won’t be you, it will be someone and that someone might be you and if it is then WOW!

Ish…. that’s why I have premium bonds.

I don’t see gambling as any more of a problem than drink or cigarettes. Bookies have ways of helping problem gamblers but they need to ask for that help. They’re legally obliged to have these measures in place, I don’t believe vendors of drink and fags have any sort legal obligation to help their customers.

Just been into Asda to do a bit of shopping – the self-serve checkouts are now National Lottery enabled “for convenience” 🙄

Over drinks one night he was telling me about investing in puggies for pubs. These were a guaranteed 72% profit to the owner!

I fairly sure it’s the other way round, ie. there is a guaranteed average payout of 70% in the UK

but, as mentioned by binners, I’m sure they arrange the gameplay to make sure that you don’t walk away at the point you are up so you always end up with the losing average rather than the winning peak

How many football/sports teams/competitions do you see sponsored by alcohol or tobacco companies these days?

Gambling to me sits at the same level as alcohol. It’s ok in moderation, but needs to be controlled and users need to understand risks associated with its consumption.

I still find it insane that alcohol and gambling are allowed to be advertised on TV. They don’t give anything to the end user beyond some sort of satisfactions, yet can have a huge impact on society if misused. Tobacco’s been pretty much stamped out of the media, and hopefully all the other junk will follow suit.

Spent a long time “gambling” last year, I put gambling in quote marks because I actually did lots of matched betting (geeky betting playing bookies off against betting exchanges).

Made about £4000 profit all in all, got banned from pretty much all online bookmarkers (still kept a couple of accounts). To be clear nothing I did was illegal, just that bookies don’t want to provide the bets I wanted to take 😉

Still do bits and bobs, but it has provided me with a huge insight into bookies and the real value of bets. (or often the lack of value)

Would I bet knowing what I know? I had a quid e/w on the national (made a fiver!)

Still play poker fairly regular, but that’s different 🙂

It is regulated in the UK (http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/home.aspx) and taxed. Most of the world is regulating, with some countries closing most gambling down.

Those fixed odds machines in the bookies should be banned outright, terrible things.

I don’t see gambling as any more of a problem than drink or cigarettes. Bookies have ways of helping problem gamblers but they need to ask for that help. They’re legally obliged to have these measures in place, I don’t believe vendors of drink and fags have any sort legal obligation to help their customers.

A pub, or casino as it happens, has a legal obligation to stop serving and/or turf you out when you’re drunk. If you neck three bottles of cheap vodka at home on your own, there’s no one to stop you. The latter is online gambling.

It can ruin peoples lives.

A close family member still owes me £30k (ish – it’s secured on their house) from a time where she was suffering with depression and Gambling Addiction to online slots etc. Thankfully, she got treatment for the causes of the depression and now does not gamble at all.

I can understand it, because all of our family bet, mainly horses but also football – I used to play in poker tournaments and still have the occasional flutter on the footy, horses or lottery.

I’m fairly good at maths, and I understand the odds but I have to make sure I don’t get carried away on the “feeling”. A little bit of self-awareness goes a long way.

I worked for a small firm offering financial services? to customers. Over the years we’ve watched the amount of expenses from the bank accounts to gambling go up and up and up. They’re borrowing to fund their lifestyle which includes £xxx per month on gambling. Rather than cut it out and save themselves the loan.

One guy we saw literally had all his household belongings in a pawn shop so he could raise the money to gamble. He just had a the bare minimum of kitchen equipment to make breakfast, a chair, a table and a bed. TV, dvd player, PS3 hifi, lights, speakers the works were all in a pawn shop!

Another guys bank statements went from rolling balances of £300/month to one month +£25000 then -£1500 the next month. He won big with a really lucky bet on a horse. He then proceeded ?to place further bets at £500-£5000 a time over two weekends and lost it all.

I believe that just like smoking and booze advertising, gambling ads should be really, really tightly regulated. As it’s been said, it’s so incredibly easy to do now and I think more and more markets and games make it more and more enticing but there also far more confusing/difficult to learn.

The advertising should be controlled / banned. Sometimes I’ve had this misfortune to put on a commercial TV channel during the day and 90% of the adverts are for payday loans or gambling, what a great combination, what could possibly go wrong there 😡
Many of the adverts show online gambling as a fun social thing where as in reality many will stuck inside on there own.

I particularly don’t get online gambling games. Who is regulating them? How do we know that there is actually any chance of winning? At least with a sporting event any outcome is possible however remote.

I’m a volunteer with a homeless charity – usually engaging with rough sleepers. One christmas got talking with one of the guests at a centre; he opened up about his chronic gambling addiction. Cost him his marriage, family, various jobs, everything he had and valued.
Skilled tradesman who made good money but often blew most – and sometimes all – of it on payday and resorted to sleeping in site cabins.
He wanted the thrill that he might win and, when he did, he believed he would continue winning.
An intelligent bloke who acknowledged his addiction but, i think, deep down didn’t truly want to change.
That really saddened me.

I done a thread a while ago cos the ads were pissing me off. STW forum goers convinced me there was money to be made. Still not tried it meself though and never will.

Who is regulating them? How do we know that there is actually any chance of winning? At least with a sporting event any outcome is possible however remote.

I believe they have to disclose the odds to the Gambling Commission in the UK:

In the UK, the UK government passed a law in late 2014 that meant all online casinos that offered online gambling facilities to UK-based players needed a separate, UK licence. If you’re in the UK and you are thinking of using an online casino, then look for the ‘Gambling Commission’ logo which will prove that the site is above board.

Casino Regulation

But that doesn’t mean to say it would be impossible to have a switch that changes the odds when the Commission is looking. I wonder if they get to see the source code.

There is a lot of uninformed opinion on this thread. As said above, it is regulated in the UK (http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/home.aspx)

All games need to be certified, and reported on. The commission puts a lot of emphasis on problem gambling, so it is not like sitting at home necking 3 bottles of vodka, but it is difficult as there is a limit as to what a company can know about the state of your finances, or your state of mind.
There is a lot of research going into understanding problem gambling.

A big issue is no matter what the commission says and does, there will always be unregulated companies that will offer services without following the rules, or caring about the player. This is the problem with the internet.

But that doesn’t mean to say it would be impossible to have a switch that changes the odds when the Commission is looking.

See also VW emmissions testing 😉

There is a lot of uninformed opinion on this thread

Someone is new here 😉

not to mention the Bingo sites too

makes my piss boil when I see that Tombola advert trying to sell a weird “shabby chic” lifestyle through their “look at all these friends play bingo on their phones” adverts like it’s something to be proud of.

Last time I fluttered on the national, it cost me more to put the bet on that what I won back from 2 out of 3 winners. Complete mugs game and very dangerous considering the amount of people that seem to be texting in to some roulette TV programme on channel 5 I see when I get home late from work.

I think I’ve staked a total of £30 or so in my life with bookies (visit to the horses working, put my wages on it as it was not hard work and it was a night out with my then GF really, I think I won) and a trip to the dogs with work.

On top of that, £10 or £20 on poker games with friends. I don’t think gambling is wrong per se, but what is wrong is that poor people gamble far more as they see it as the only realistic way of getting rich (this applies to the national lottery too – which is ironic cos people in deprived areas that get lottery funded facilities are basically paying for it themselves).

Personally, I’d ban the bookies, at least from places other than trackside. And that’s before you get to the problems people have getting payouts when they have had a winning streak.

I bet £10 on the Grand National in 1997 because I was at it. Until the IRA did/didn’t put a bomb there. My horse broke it’s neck in the rerun.

Then I bet £40 on the winner of the last RWC, but used free bets to double or better my stake if any of the top 5 teams won. Got £90 back I think it was.

So overall I’m up by about £40. Unless you count school raffles as gambling in which case I’m probably well behind.

Unless you count school raffles as gambling in which case I’m probably well behind.

Gateway drug to the hard stuff

Personally, I’d ban the bookies, at least from places other than trackside. And that’s before you get to the problems people have getting payouts when they have had a winning streak.

Isn’t there some theory as to why there are more bookies in deprived areas along with pubs and the like…….something about keeping people down *grabs tin-foil hat*

Went for a job interview once at BetFred. As in a senior job, so was interviewed by all of the board (except Fred Done himself).

Now, I’m pretty pragmatic when it comes to companies I’ll interview with – an arms manufacturer is on the list as well.

Didn’t get the job (went to a guy from Stanley – he tried to tap me for his old job but I’d seen enough). Just as well – the humourless MD described the environment as being a “being dictatorship”. I took that to be a lie about the “benign” bit….

The UK is the most mature gambling market, and the explosion you see in advertising and online gambling came about from regulatory changes in 2007. IIRC Australia is the next best market that the likes of BetFred target. So, we’ve had 10 years to really embed it.

I’m similar to the teetotallers above – don’t gamble. But that’s because I don’t get any pleasure from it: it always feels like I might as well just hand out my money to someone on the street for the good it does to me. Even lap dancing isn’t as big a waste of money as gambling in my eyes…!

I have a colleague who’s a pretty hefty gambler. He has a big brain and uses it to avoid having to speak to his wife in the evenings as far as I can tell. But in reality, he’s now admitted that he couldn’t just give it up. On average he claims he’s usually up by c£1500 a month. But to get there he will have placed £30k’s worth of bets in the same time period. His income is OK (I’d guess £200k pa), but that isn’t going to get him very far if he starts rolling through regular material losses….

I’m a puritanical arse, so my thoughts are:

having or displaying a very strict or censorious moral attitude towards self-indulgence or sex.

That’s me right there.

I think all advertising for online betting should be banned, the companies that support such should then pile all profits made over the last 10years in online betting piled into social care and infrastructure until every last penny made in profit has been spent. Then those company employees and its Directors made to visit and spend time in some sort of social reform initiative so they can truly understand the effects that they and thier business model has on the public.

I have no problem at all with static betting shops, these can continue to function in the same way as they’ve always been functioning.

What winds me right up about the online betting world is it isn’t a physical thing. There is no effort made by the player to get off thier arse and walk into a shop.. this physical effort of time taking could calm or rationalise the excitement or need for a bet, or at least give it some thought before placing a bet.
Online gambling takes away any potential for clear rational thought before placing bets.

The glamorising and advertising of online betting should be banned completely, and move to a fact based method like smoking.

I done a thread a while ago cos the ads were pissing me off. STW forum goers convinced me there was money to be made. Still not tried it meself though and never will.

just read that thread again dez to see which one it was and saw id just posted on it lamenting the fact that theyd banned me from taking up any more offers 🙂 i now use a mates account to do the same (but this time have the odd 50p ‘proper’ bet from time to time to beat the algorithm), and chuck him a few quid when i get a worthwhile win.
youre wise not to do it yourself if you dont understand it tho, its not for everyone.
there is money to be made from the bookies, but then again i spose ‘matched betting’ and taking up the ‘no-lose’ offers isnt really gambling, its just getting one over them.