Pro gambler quits over rules and regs.

[stressfree]

A dying breed  

 

https://www.simonnott.co.uk/blog-racing/a-professional-punter-calls-it-quits

[david1111]

29 minutes ago, stressfree said:

A dying breed  

 

https://www.simonnott.co.uk/blog-racing/a-professional-punter-calls-it-quits

It's no surprise as I'm guessing it's getting nearly impossible for a pro to get a decent bet on.

Definitely a dying breed unfortunately as the industry has made it impossible for anyone to follow in their footsteps.

There are no bookmakers anymore, just businesses with the sole intention of keeping shareholders happy

 

[philinvicta]

all this crap they put you through when you do try and use the gambling tools is madness as well.   I did a time out with Paddy Power   and then when it came to reactivating my account I had to answer a whole load of questions  which I did.  One week later a get a message and they want me to answer the same load of questions again "due to turnover on my account increasing"   I told the dumb fucks of course it had increased as it had just been reactivated from doing zero for a period of time due to the time out.

Not good enough for them and if I did not answer their questions they would have to suspend my account I just told them to close it.

I have the same shit from the tote  after a timeout they demand you call them    because you obviously have a problem if you use the tools that they want you to use  for safer gambling.   I  got fed up   as they  have removed the only benefit of having an account  ie reducing the fantasy pools to just week ends and  they have removed the ten to follow as well having destroyed the amount of people who would play it.  Once upon a time you could enter through the Racing Post of through your local betting shop.  Indeed one of my local independents used to do a comp with their own league with 5k in prizes ( you just used to pay the fee and enter through them)   They have also removed the bonus payment on wins and placepots if you bet through them rather than use a third party who they pay commission to.

They have even moved to not just doing pool bets but to laying their own books.

When I tried to close my account all you get is having to answer loads of questions  when they should just be able to do it . They claim  they cannot access the account to close the account without all you details etc but after answering a couple of questions I just told them to basically get stuffed and I had better things to do as all I wanted to do was close my  account which should be very easy to do.

Anyways a few days later I went to log on to look at something only to find my account closed just proving they want to keep you on the line and try and persuade you to think again about closing the account.

I am only a small punter but have decided to have a crack at winning a nice few quid on the Greyhound Derby.   I have no doubt that if it wins I can expect the usual congrats  on the win  but your account is now restricted to 2pence a race. 

Lord knows what it must be like for people like Potts    and I am sure that many of these guys will be using so called black market bookmakers   and even if  the Gambling Commission wise up that they are finishing horse racing and the like as betting will fall  dramatically .  It will not be easy getting this betting turnover back  even if they back off on the demands.  it is mental being treated like a money launderer even if you have had an account for 25 years with the firm.

 

 

 

 

 

[Solario333]

It's ultimately all about greed .  The government doesn't care about your well being , the corporate bosses just want money and power to control your spend so that the income is generated ,taking as much from you as possible , and often more than is affordable.   Bookmakers are not here to take a bet , just to take money and avoid paying out ….. no moral compass , no consideration of your existance at all , you are just another USER , who supplies money . 

I no longer bet online , for the same reasons , interference , privacy violstions, data intrusion, ludicrous rules and regs, and fundamentally criminal theft of funds by algorythms that are tailored to steal every penny you have . 

My Lucky 15s still lose money but at least i have control of the stake and the cashflow.  Once you deposit online just say goodbye to the money ……….

[stressfree]

2 hours ago, Solario333 said:

It's ultimately all about greed .  The government doesn't care about your well being , the corporate bosses just want money and power to control your spend so that the income is generated ,taking as much from you as possible , and often more than is affordable.   Bookmakers are not here to take a bet , just to take money and avoid paying out ….. no moral compass , no consideration of your existance at all , you are just another USER , who supplies money . 

I no longer bet online , for the same reasons , interference , privacy violstions, data intrusion, ludicrous rules and regs, and fundamentally criminal theft of funds by algorythms that are tailored to steal every penny you have . 

My Lucky 15s still lose money but at least i have control of the stake and the cashflow.  Once you deposit online just say goodbye to the money ……….

I too stick mostly to lucky 15's as it is very good at controlling how much I spend. I use 3 big bookies and I have never been asked to prove my financial status whereas slotting sites seem to be weighed down by having to abide by uk rules and regs. I believe that this is because slot only sites are viewed as expendable in the future one everything becomes digital and interlinked. Big bookies use lobbiests and links to politicians and bigwigs to protect their interests so when the new digital age restricts how much we can spend per month big bookies will survive and slot sites will go to the wall. 

The only restrictions carried out by big bookies is when your sucessful because they only want bigger bets from the 90% who lose regularly in my experience

Edited May 8, 2024 by stressfree

[philinvicta]

The reports have been published on betting turnover as per this report in the Racing Post.  Turnover down dramatically and has fallen even further since the report was published , Noticeable that they talk of  a 3 billion  black hole and then further down they say it is estimated over 4 billion is bet with black market bookmakers. Also bookmakers gross profit has fallen very little due to removal of concessions to customers. As I have always known racing profits rely very heavily on a few large gamblers and many of these have been chased away by the persistent hassle and regulations required to have a bet.

All this report seems to prove is that as people said at the time  all the UK restrictions would do would manage is to push people off shore.

Bookmaker profits are holding up but I am sure that they will be hit harder over next couple of years unless they can keep people punting online on their other products namely casino games and slots but with stake restrictions on these they are relying on smaller punters  who are likely to have less  disposable income in the next couple of years . Betting on all sport betting  is well down.  

https://www.racingpost.com/news/gambling-review/the-three-key-takeouts-from-betting-statistics-for-the-year-ending-march-2024-published-by-the-gambling-commission-apvZT3d8SXgt/

[Solario333]

Since I only bet lucky 15s I also go regularly into the bookies . Betfred and corals . There are always people on the fobts so until these greed machines are stopped bookmakers will always make a fortune off the backs of poor people .  It’s the elephant in the room .  

 

[Blacko]

1 hour ago, Solario333 said:

Since I only bet lucky 15s I also go regularly into the bookies . Betfred and corals . There are always people on the fobts so until these greed machines are stopped bookmakers will always make a fortune off the backs of poor people .  It’s the elephant in the room .  

 

I see the bookies dying off pretty quickly in my home town, within the past 5 years PP has shut up shop, Ladbrokes have closed 2, Corals gone completely, no independents at all. Basically left with 2 Hills, 1 betfred and Ladbrokes who look in trouble as the shop is stone dead. Needless to say I’m not crying many tears over this.

 

[philinvicta]

1 hour ago, Blacko said:

I see the bookies dying off pretty quickly in my home town, within the past 5 years PP has shut up shop, Ladbrokes have closed 2, Corals gone completely, no independents at all. Basically left with 2 Hills, 1 betfred and Ladbrokes who look in trouble as the shop is stone dead. Needless to say I’m not crying many tears over this.

 

Most are hanging on by a thread even in Ireland where we do not have FOBT in the shops.  When I moved to Galway there were double figures of shops around the city including independents. The independents have all sold out to Boyles and Paddys as they could no longer make a living  and Ladbrokes has closed all bar one shop  whereas they once had 4 in fairly close proximity.   

I think the increase in national insurance payments as well as the other high costs of running shops will see many marginal shops close in the UK over the next year.

The days of going in to a shop and plenty of craic with  the afternoons racing are long gone.

[Blacko]

11 minutes ago, philinvicta said:

The independents have all sold out to Boyles and Paddys as they could no longer make a living

Used to be big money in that. My independent when I lived in Swanage was John Chappell who got wiped out at Cheltenham 2 years on the trot, a stable in Shepton Mallet cleaned him out. Anyway the local Ladbrokes picked up on his bad news and threw a ton of money his way to shut up shop and fuck off.. three years later it was a charity shop.

 

[philinvicta]

45 minutes ago, Blacko said:

Used to be big money in that. My independent when I lived in Swanage was John Chappell who got wiped out at Cheltenham 2 years on the trot, a stable in Shepton Mallet cleaned him out. Anyway the local Ladbrokes picked up on his bad news and threw a ton of money his way to shut up shop and fuck off.. three years later it was a charity shop.

 

The independents used to be able to make a good living  especially in Ireland  as from my experience the Irish would bet larger than their UK counterparts.  One local independent  grew to several shops and made a fine living  as did all his family until the margins went and he had to sell out to Powers.  At one time he took a risk   and opened a new shop  spending a decent six figure sum on it  and was a bit nervous.  He opened it just before Galway Race Week   and he actually had such a good week  he paid for it all in that week !

Another guy I knew when I was back in the UK sold his shops to Hills I think and they said one shop was no good to them  and they would pay the same price but he could keep that shop.   It was in a coastal town with a caravan site near by  and after Sunday racing came in  he used to make a nice few quid as many people coming down for the week end would do their bets with him as they could pick up from Saturdays   and they would also do a few Sunday bets.  Turnover went up a lot and he made a nice few quid then.

 

 

[david1111]

On 05/12/2024 at 10:17, Blacko said:

I see the bookies dying off pretty quickly in my home town, within the past 5 years PP has shut up shop, Ladbrokes have closed 2, Corals gone completely, no independents at all. Basically left with 2 Hills, 1 betfred and Ladbrokes who look in trouble as the shop is stone dead. Needless to say I’m not crying many tears over this.

 

I'm guessing it's only the fobts keeping the shops open.

It's natural progression that the shops would diminish anyway with all the online presence. 

It's the same with banks and other retail outlets that have closed. Why would you go into a shop when you can buy the same thing online from the same shop, but cheaper.

Bookies were buzzing in my day. The only down side was that you had to cut your way through the fag smoke

[philinvicta]

3 hours ago, david1111 said:

I'm guessing it's only the fobts keeping the shops open.

It's natural progression that the shops would diminish anyway with all the online presence. 

It's the same with banks and other retail outlets that have closed. Why would you go into a shop when you can buy the same thing online from the same shop, but cheaper.

Bookies were buzzing in my day. The only down side was that you had to cut your way through the fag smoke

The reason it is cheaper is because it takes far less staff to deliver the product.  The delivery companies are booming but the jobs are shit and in the end there will be far less employment if people do not use their local shops.

[david1111]

22 minutes ago, philinvicta said:

The reason it is cheaper is because it takes far less staff to deliver the product.  The delivery companies are booming but the jobs are shit and in the end there will be far less employment if people do not use their local shops.

I've spoken to a few delivery drivers and they get paid circa £1 per parcel(it differs depending on who you deliver for) they deliver so if you're delivering a couple of hundred or more it can be quite lucrative.

As you say though the job is shit. The hours are horrendous and 7 days a week.

They are self employed so if they don't work, they don't get paid. There are quite a few expenses also. You need your own van so you have yhe upkeep, fuel and insurance which is horrendously expensive for delivery drivers

Edited December 6, 2024 by david1111

[philinvicta]

1 hour ago, david1111 said:

I've spoken to a few delivery drivers and they get paid circa £1 per parcel(it differs depending on who you deliver for) they deliver so if you're delivering a couple of hundred or more it can be quite lucrative.

As you say though the job is shit. The hours are horrendous and 7 days a week.

They are self employed so if they don't work, they don't get paid. There are quite a few expenses also. You need your own van so you have yhe upkeep, fuel and insurance which is horrendously expensive for delivery drivers

It takes a very long day to deliver a couple of  hundred parcels .   Usual crap of companies charging good amount for package delivery then paying the  driver a quid  who has to pay his own expenses.  depending on the round you could be lucky to make a hundred  for the day after expenses  and it could be a 12 hour day,   Huge amount of deliveries in the month before xmas  but I imagine   the day is stressful and long  then get to February and be lucky to make a couple of hundred a week after expenses.

At the end of the day you would be better off in a non stress minimum wage job