New betting shop

Do you want gold taps in the bathroom?

I don't know, but it is not cheap

SIS charges a bit, the tills they use now cost a bit, FOBTS cost a bit

that is aside from all the cost of refitting the shop itself, with umpteen tellies

I think a lot goes down to where it is, town centres tend to be best nowadays

they are not the cash cow they used to be imo

BOS Magazine will give you answer you seek and contact numbers. Bi Monthly that goes to all Independent betting shops. Ask at your nearest shop for their copy.

.... Bookmaker Office Supplies (BOS)

I know someone who recently opened one and failed

FOBTs may seem like printing money

but profit I think is only 2.5%, so to make £250 a week you have to take £10,000 a week on these machines, as an example
sports betting, well you will attract all the shrewdies who have been banned from high street bookies

if the position is right ok

Gery, there are more new shops opening now than in the past 20 years. Mostly the big firms. They are not daft you know and are planning for the future. They foresee new gaming laws being passed eliminating the current maximum of 4 machines per shop. Wall to wall machines in betting shops is the future I`m afraid. Mini casinos.

betfred opening one in our town.......3 betting shops within 50 yards

they are rich, I am poor

so you are probably right

mightymac

The big bookies, get bulk discounts on everything

they foresee, one person operating, long hours, low wages

a friend failed as an independent, that was my only point

be sure you have the costing right, and be realistic about numbers of customers etc

go on Dragons Den

Dont

Councils allow them to open, because two centres now look like areas of devastation,

better a bookies than another empty shop, they pay rent, council tax

we are suffering from the twin effects of the Credit Crunch and people going over to on line shopping

Some Independents still exist, and they doubt they run at a loss

I think they are those who have taken great care in building up a friendly customer base

They treat their customers fairly, but of course must still make money out of them

losing bookies don't stay in business

My friend failed because of wrong position not enough people came by his shop or went in

I don't know the costs my friend incurred, but it was a lot

it was not 6 figures, but well into 5 figures, more expensive than you think

Overheads kill the small Independents.

Talking about 1 man operated shops, in 10 years times there will be no staff. Wall to wall betting terminals and roulette machines. Mark my words.

talked about that 20 years ago themightymac

Corals brought lots of betting shops before the credit crunch and have run themselves into debt

Where I live I can see why, they are all over the town, I don't see how some make a profit

All the new betting shops have opened in the town centre.

I think overheads do kill you mightmac, my m8 looked at his weekly SIS, tills and FOBTS bill and he was not covering them

so it has to go

Years ago I worked for an Independent late 60s, lovely atmosphere(even with the smoke)

In the 80's I worked part time for Billys for a while, not quite so friendly, but still fair atmosphere.

I pity anybody working in bookies now, appalling atmosphere, although you still get some of the old guys

with the lucky 15's. They are expected to clean toilets, low wages and long hours.

Bookies are not doing this because they hate their staff, it is because they are desperate!

The problem with betting terminals is they only accept tuppence bets to stop the pro's fleecing the crap out of em. Have you tried placing a bet on one of em? Total waste of time. I once put 300 quid in to bet on a 6/1 shot. Wouldn't even let me have a fiver on.

I think they have a 1 grand liability on the bets, but if someone has that bet then nobody else can bet on it. Obviously to stop a pro just putting the same bet on 30 times in a row. So somebody bets on what you want to, the terminal tells you to eff off. Not really much use.

I hope at least, it lost for your sake Bob...they are just for small punters

a bet taking out £1800 is a risk for bookies because they don't take that much, especially on Horse racing now

the little 'mug money' that is still about, tends to go on football now...aside from FOBT's that is

we live in hard times Bob

I take your point on your last post Bob

£300 at 6/1...I wish we could get on

If they have a 1 grand liability...I think they should take that bet..up to that limit

I have ever tried them

never
I know it aint much good putting that bet over the counter

Hard to pull off a betting coup now with all that sophisticated machinery. Even the small independents with perhaps a dozen shops have them all connected with computers 70s you could take them on and beat them. Not now. Lucky to get a score on in a local shop.

... one day back then, we bet a nice winner in Ireland, just after it had passed the post They lost the Extel commentary over the phone line for 10 minutes, seemingly something went wrong with the electrics. Red phone box at end of street was working fine though, my friend can confirm that, for he was phoning Naas at the same time

Too much.
Don't bother.

My local indy does well,big house new rangerover & plenty of hols,attracts a lot of money from sports betting since he offers best quoted RP prices trebles & up.got a couple of fobts,does use his bf a/c a lot to hedge.apart from special racing weeks like this one think the key is to attract younger punters with sports betting especially footy.obviously position is  massive,big high st shop will loss lead to get rid of near by indy.

"Talking about 1 man operated shops, in 10 years times there will be no staff. Wall to wall betting terminals and roulette machines. Mark my words...."

It will happen. They will circumvent the 4 fobt max per shop by installing cheap devices that are hard coded to only access their website. Customers will therefore be playing "online" instead of in the shop. All the profits will be channelled offshore as the bets will be "accepted" in Guernsey, Gib, or wherever they like. That way you could get 100 people in a shop playing roulette. Maybe 5000 if you could convince the punters to lay down in bunks from floor to ceiling. It willl also mean that you could stay open 24 hours a day as it would just be an expensive internet cafe. If I have thought of it, they already have!

I like the bunks idea. If they were to charge a nominalf ee they could call it a hotel, serve booze 24hrs & you'd never have to leave.

a few years ago a new indy started up near me. lasted less than a year.

daft location. leafy suburb full of school kids and retired people. every time i went past it i never saw one person inside. never went in myself. location is pretty important. the guy probably thought "theres no bookies nearby, this is a good place"...yeah...or maybe...no bookies nearby cos nobody nearby would go in one. doh!