Walking into a strange betting shop

They all think that you must have inside information and are part of a betting coup!

Naydam, correct, get a bundle of 20's out and ask for a price from the Cashier's screen. Jimmy Saville would get a warmer welcome.

its half psychological though. when you walk in a bookies youre used to, you feel confident. even if you dont know the staff. if you walk into a strange one, you dont know where anything is and dont recognise any faces and it feels weird.

Went in one last week never been in before, can't remember where, but had just that, was looking for the RP as had 10 mins to kill. Within about 20 seconds the female cashier said 'Can I help you?' across the shop, but really meeant' Yeah, who the feck are you and what do you want'. I just mumbled summat about the racing but felt uncomfortable as though I was like a shoplifter being followed round by the store detective.

wow thats weird. maybe she fancied you??

lifted ur wallet in the process

Dunno about that, was definately being viewed with suspiscon though. Not nearly as frosty though as when had to collect £600 I had won at a shop in Devon whilst on a golfing weekend, they couldn't pay me and had to collect from local Billy's in Rotherham on the Monday. Made me wait nearly 30 mins to 'open the safe' though I had got the lad in Devon to phone the shop and tell em I would be in on monday to collect. was convinced the lad was going to cash it himself and would be voided when I tried to get it.Can hardly go 275 miles back to collect can you?

Usually the preliminary to introducing you to the FOBT machines

most birds only work in the bookies to try and pull a big money gambler. probably checking out the size of your wad!

Yes, of course, all the married women who work for extra money, only there to find a rich man, in a bookies in east London.
It's a wonder there are any cashiers left.

Are you a bit paranoid, Big Issue?

What do you mean by paranoid Pixie? Do I know you? Do you know me? Are you with the Government?

I go to my local betting shop quite often, it's like a social club really and everyone knows everyone else. It's not a big hitting shop over the counter but they do very well on the fobt's. I used to put bets on there when still at school and the same old faces from way back then are still in there.

, V good Big_issue. It's just that if a member of staff asked me in a betting shop 'can I help you?', I would think how nice that this lovely woman is doing such a good job at customers services and ask her very nicely if she would make me a cup of tea as I have about ten minutes to kill. As for collecting £600 from another shop, I would think it would be quite tricky for the manager to collect a ticket without the customer copy and overriding the CCTV at head office at the same time.

I think you worry too much.

Bookies in Luton robbed yesterday (common occurence there if you look online)
Two blacks wearing masks and hoodies, armed with a gun.

Very common occurrence in most places, it happens regularly around me. The same shop I mentioned has often been held up and in fact I was talking to one of the faces in there yesterday about when it last happened. He was in there when two blokes came in and one fired a warning shot from a shotgun into the ceiling. He said when this was happening people were still trying to give the terrified manageress bets to put on. They got away with £650 plus whatever was in the coin rack, not a lot for an armed robbery but they were never caught. By the way call me a taxi, which shop was it in Luton? I have two mates who manage there, one in PP the other in Betfred.

I just Googled 'bookmakers robbery' with matches over the last month. Loads of robberies in lots of areas

prob get a final warning for having more than £500 readily available

Big_Issue
20 May 14 00:00   
Dunno about that, was definately being viewed with suspiscon though. Not nearly as frosty though as when had to collect £600 I had won at a shop in Devon whilst on a golfing weekend, they couldn't pay me and had to collect from local Billy's in Rotherham on the Monday. Made me wait nearly 30 mins to 'open the safe' though I had got the lad in Devon to phone the shop and tell em I would be in on monday to collect. was convinced the lad was going to cash it himself and would be voided when I tried to get it.Can hardly go 275 miles back to collect can you?

The 'insert' in the safe is on a time lock, the staff can't open it until it's ready to open.

The previous evening, when the shop was closed, the manager counts what is left to pay, and that amount goes into the safe, but not in the 'insert'. He then phones his area office and tells them what he has put in the e 'insert'. Large sums are left in the 'insert' until he takes them out and goes to the bank the next day, or in your case, he pays you.

There is no reason whatsoever for the bloke behind the counter in Devon to keep your ticket, no matter where you are going to collect the money. Until the cash is handed over, the ticket is your property, you should have asked for it back.

In future, all you need to do is ask the staff the shop name and branch number when placing the bet whilst on holiday. You can then collect it from any branch of the same company in the UK, once they have phoned the shop where you placed the bet, and verified that it hasn't been collected.

Most shops have a time delay for paying lost tickets. If you're a regular punter the manager will know your handwriting, and probably pay you immediately.

If you're not a regular, you could be in for at least a 3 day wait, depending on which company you used.

spellingandgrammarchecker
20 May 14 13:42   
By the way call me a taxi, which shop was it in Luton? I have two mates who manage there, one in PP the other in Betfred.

Ladbrokes
St Dominic's Square.

dont understand people who rob bookies. half the people who go in them have more money in their pockets than the bookies have behind the counter. every time you try to cash a winning bet theyve got no money. youd have thought word would have got round by now that bookies dont keep money anymore. i used to bet in the thousands every day in the bookies and i knew about five others who did too. nobody batted an eyelid.

ok its probably not so common these days, bookies are scared to take a bet, but even now theres still loads of people feeding £20 notes in those daft machines for hours on end. yet they get a shotgun out to rob the bookies of a few hundred quid. crazy.

someone wake me up

i used to bet in the thousands every day in the bookies and i knew about five others who did too. nobody batted an eyelid.

The manager had no need to bat an eyelid, it's not his money he was risking, but you and the other 5 'high rollers' were all 'fielded' by the manager, under area office instructions, you can bank on that.

If you had kept showing profit on a weekly or monthly basis, you would have been asked to 'take your business elsewhere'.

But even now theres still loads of people feeding £20 notes in those daft machines for hours on end. yet they get a shotgun out to rob the bookies of a few hundred quid. crazy.

I can see that this is going to come as a surprise to you.

The £20 notes that are fed in there all day don't remain in the machines. The machines  are enptied and the cash goes behind the counter, which is why robbers point guns at staff, instead of attacking the machines with a crowbar.

@Big Issue
The cashiers are encouraged to engage strangers. Most companies use mystery shoppers and any member of staff ignoring them is taken to task.

@taxi
We gave names to big stake customers when logging their bets if we didn't know their real name.
Bob's would have been the moaning b

bob's dream to be log1 imo

akabula
20 May 14 21:04   
@taxi
We gave names to big stake customers when logging their bets if we didn't know their real name.
Bob's would have been the moaning b

lol