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William Hill Plans 700 Store Closures Putting 4,500 Jobs At Risk

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I do not get any information from any stable or from any other punters. I simply study the form, as I always have, and make my judgement on finding a winner in the race. I do not win every day, I may go a week or two without getting a return, but I always bet small amounts and make a substantial profit when I win. A bet costing me £8 [ Each-Way Trixie]  netted £2,200  when all 3 horses won recently. 

I bet small amounts, not every day and only when I believe I can make a profit. I touch nothing under 4-1 and tend to back bigger prices if I think they are of value and I  consider them to have a reasonable chance of winning. 

 

I am fortunate enough to have made a success in what I do and as you have pointed out its not for everybody.  i would not encourage anyone to do what I have done, it can be hard work and you can get despondent when things go wrong and chasing your losses is an absolute no-no.

 

I am now in a position where I have no debt,  am mortgage-free,  and have cash balance  in my bookie accounts, but I will still only bet to small stakes when I do bet.  It is all about self-control.

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5 minutes ago, Sweetcheeks said:

I bet small amounts, not every day and only when I believe I can make a profit.

Again not the reality for most punters. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard someone say that they need to get to the bookies before the 3.15 at Wincanton and when I ask them what they are on, they say ‘I’ve no idea. I’ll see when I get there’. Their priority is having a bet first and winning money second and they operate in a quasi-groundhog day state where when they win £50, they immediately forget about the £150 they have bet before they got their win.

 

Like I said, if you are up, then good luck to you but you are very much the exception not the rule. 

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I agree with you about the irrational way most punters appear to need to bet, almost like having a fix. I am now in a postion where I never need to bet again for a living. I am retired with pensions and a very healthy bank balance which I do not touch for betting as I have a considerable balance in my betting accounts with 2 online bookies. I now back for the pleasure and not for the need to, but years ago it was for an income as I had no other wage coming in and I succeeded in paying my way and building a nest-egg. Maybe I was lucky, maybe I learnt my craft  years ago when I was still working, but I truly believed I was capable of making a go of it and I was right.  

 

 

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9 minutes ago, Sweetcheeks said:

I agree with you about the irrational way most punters appear to need to bet, almost like having a fix. I am now in a postion where I never need to bet again for a living. I am retired with pensions and a very healthy bank balance which I do not touch for betting as I have a considerable balance in my betting accounts with 2 online bookies. I now back for the pleasure and not for the need to, but years ago it was for an income as I had no other wage coming in and I succeeded in paying my way and building a nest-egg. Maybe I was lucky, maybe I learnt my craft  years ago when I was still working, but I truly believed I was capable of making a go of it and I was right.  

 

 

I see no problem at all with bookies in the High Street. People can bet on horses, dogs whatever.

 

The only reason so many shops sprung up is because of FOBT'ies. Would you agree? These are machines can could take huge amounts of cash in a small amount of time (yes granted I agree this can be done online now) - but they're targeting a different section of society.

 

I think the real issue is that this shouldn't have been done in the first place, and now undoing it, means thousands of job losses (a different era now to 14 years ago, so most staff won't realise their jobs were a political decision years back) so all the jobs made in the first place were just temporary, really.

 

The same has happened in my work, but I hope it doesn't take 14 years to sort out.

 

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, *_ash_* said:

I see no problem at all with bookies in the High Street. People can bet on horses, dogs whatever.

 

The only reason so many shops sprung up is because of FOBT'ies. Would you agree? These are machines can could take huge amounts of cash in a small amount of time (yes granted I agree this can be done online now) - but they're targeting a different section of society.

 

I think the real issue is that this shouldn't have been done in the first place, and now undoing it, means thousands of job losses (a different era now to 14 years ago, so most staff won't realise their jobs were a political decision years back) so all the jobs made in the first place were just temporary, really.

 

The same has happened in my work, but I hope it doesn't take 14 years to sort out.

 

 

 

 

Agreed, the betting shop has become a glorified amusement arcade which traps the unwitting participant into believing  they can take money from it like an ATM. Betting shops years ago where never like they are now. With wall to wall noise, distracting the punters from  studying the form thoroughly, and now we have cartoon horseracing as well.  I don't use the betting shop anymore, I prefer the silence of a spare bedroom to go through the form of each race and each horse, and yes I can spend hours looking through all the details and still end up with no bet.  

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25 minutes ago, Sweetcheeks said:

Agreed, the betting shop has become a glorified amusement arcade which traps the unwitting participant into believing  they can take money from it like an ATM. Betting shops years ago where never like they are now. With wall to wall noise, distracting the punters from  studying the form thoroughly, and now we have cartoon horseracing as well.  I don't use the betting shop anymore, I prefer the silence of a spare bedroom to go through the form of each race and each horse, and yes I can spend hours looking through all the details and still end up with no bet.  

:hihi:

 

unbelievable isn't it!

 

 

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1 hour ago, *_ash_* said:

(yes granted I agree this can be done online now) - but they're targeting a different section of society.

Fixed odds machines particularly target the poorest in society who have no access to credit or can’t open an online account because their credit rating is so low so are excluded from the world of online gambling.

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Those people who are 

no longer spending what little they have on the fixed odds machines will now have more disposable income. This will be spent somewhere, so there should be opportunity for the newly redundant to find other work. A chance for much of this money to stay local

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1 minute ago, Eater Sundae said:

A chance for much of this money to stay local

Even if the money was spent on drink in a local pub, this is at least supporting the local economy rather that the large multinationals who own most of the bookies.

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1 hour ago, Sweetcheeks said:

Agreed, the betting shop has become a glorified amusement arcade which traps the unwitting participant into believing  they can take money from it like an ATM. Betting shops years ago where never like they are now. With wall to wall noise, distracting the punters from  studying the form thoroughly, and now we have cartoon horseracing as well.  I don't use the betting shop anymore, I prefer the silence of a spare bedroom to go through the form of each race and each horse, and yes I can spend hours looking through all the details and still end up with no bet.  

How does cartoon horse racing work?  How do they avoid insider betting (by the animators’  friends)? Or is there still some sort of chance outcome built in?

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29 minutes ago, Top Cats Hat said:

Fixed odds machines particularly target the poorest in society who have no access to credit or can’t open an online account because their credit rating is so low so are excluded from the world of online gambling.

Yep. And also since some places have UC now with monthly payments for all expenditure (inc. housing), and IMO it's causing the type of thing we see in Sheffield now and other cities. Hundreds of people begging for drugs alcohol etc.

 

Most of these people lived (bad, but relatively stable) lives when their housing costs were covered with benefits, then they can **** up the wall anything else, which they would do. Giving them the housing money was never going to work, and is the main issue with UC.

 

 

8 minutes ago, Eater Sundae said:

How does cartoon horse racing work?  How do they avoid insider betting (by the animators’  friends)? Or is there still some sort of chance outcome built in?

Probably much like FOBT where one might play roulette but no wheel or ball. It has a percentage payout and sticks to it. People can argue about the percentages, but in roulette live over time the odds are the same on every single move. I worked it out once, you basically lose 7p in every £1

 

With old fashioned modern bandits (1980s-now), they work much the same way. They have a percentage payout key, which can be 70-98%.

 

I knew the percentage payouts of every place in Sheffield. This is defined by the chance of people coming back. So static/long term customers places have high payout percentages, and places like motorway service stations or holiday resorts set far closer to the legal minimum of 70%.

 

Noble's was always the highest in Sheffield at 92% (about same as playing roulette)

Quicksilver next at 90%

Bingo halls are either 82 or 84% in the big ones. The old independents had slightly highly (well the ones that lasted longest anyway!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Successive governments have loosened the restrictions on gambling and the public purse benefited to the tune of £2.7billion in 2017. Not so many years ago  offcourse bookmakers had blackened out windows , received only a radio commentary with no tv pictures and were not allowed to advertise.   As time passed live tv broadcasts were allowed and suddenly banks of tv screens appeared in betting shops. The major UK bookmakers pushed for more betting " opportunities" and greyhound tracks like Sheffield were allowed to run daytime meetings , Sunday race and dog meetings came into being. Attendances were not great  at afternoon dog meetings ,however it was an incentive to keep punters in the shops. The arrival of betting exchanges greatly reduced cash betting office turnover however as a previous comment rightly suggested  betting offices were allowed to install betting terminals. A pal of mine who worked as  a betting office manager informed me several years ago  it was the cash betting terminals kept his office viable. Punters queued to get on them. Occasionally the terminals would get trashed by an outraged punter who had done in his money. No way would the company report it as it would be bad publicity. The bookmakers are allowed to spend fortunes on advertising and must be ******* themselves laughing when Ray Winstone and Fred Done being the punters'pal advise " bet responsibly."

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