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Given up, I've been defeated.
The overheads, the drop in take, customer numbers and margins.
A lovely shop too, I spent a fortune doing it up, as it had been a dump when I took it on. A reasonable customer base and I'm proud to say, no punters were ever peed off or not paid. We gave away refreshments and all was modern systems and we took bets on most things, to a bigger level than the big firms too.
My staff were well trained and understood the business and what the bets were about.
But ridiculous big pay outs all the time from Irish Lottery wins, fluke horse and cartoon racing, stupid football accas.
Last Saturday alone I paid over £600 on 3 separate bets (£1, £1 and £2 staked) all between 5.30pm and 8.10pm. This sort of thing is down to marketing and advertising and people learning to bet from Lotto marketing types with their small stake big win message. So you take bugger all but with the potential to pay out loads.
Add that to the FOBT's which seem to have paid out hand over fist - leading me to believe that the bigger firms have a different server for their machines than the small firms, in much the same way that SIS works.
We lost the lot - House, loans, savings, things we sold.
Some went to rogue traders on the house and money to repair their damage plus still do the work. The rest went in Bank charges, Licences - Especially the Gambling Commission, 1 shop, 1 licence.... nearly £10,000 in just over 4 years to them alone. I hate the Gambling Commission with a passion, it serves NO purpose at all. Premises Licence, duty, wages, rent, SIS (over £20K a year), footy coupons, early prices, accountancy etc etc etc ALL plus VAT which cannot be claimed back.
Now I'm skint and yesterday for the first time since March 2011 had a Saturday off and I was bored and quite miserable, to be honest.
But the industry is finished. There are hardly any small bookies left, and most of those have reduced their shop numbers.
My advice and it's advice I should have taken myself, is DO NOT open a betting shop.
They are all types of amusement arcade (events every minute) plus various machines and they all now on High streets and shopping centre.
Most of the community type shops have closed as their customer base has died off or they have less expendable income.
The online business has hoovered up most of the biggest losers. At least until the online punters cannot use cards or bank accounts any more. Then they revert to shop betting with what little cash they can raise. The whole set-up is based on having 1000's of outlets or an online presence, not for one or 2 shops.
I am now jaded, bitter and a bit angry. There's no assistance for struggling business in this country, no sympathy for bookmakers and a very different future for me.
Sorry if this is rambling and a bit long, but if I save just one family from going through what I have for the last 5 years, then I've done a good thing.
The overheads, the drop in take, customer numbers and margins.
A lovely shop too, I spent a fortune doing it up, as it had been a dump when I took it on. A reasonable customer base and I'm proud to say, no punters were ever peed off or not paid. We gave away refreshments and all was modern systems and we took bets on most things, to a bigger level than the big firms too.
My staff were well trained and understood the business and what the bets were about.
But ridiculous big pay outs all the time from Irish Lottery wins, fluke horse and cartoon racing, stupid football accas.
Last Saturday alone I paid over £600 on 3 separate bets (£1, £1 and £2 staked) all between 5.30pm and 8.10pm. This sort of thing is down to marketing and advertising and people learning to bet from Lotto marketing types with their small stake big win message. So you take bugger all but with the potential to pay out loads.
Add that to the FOBT's which seem to have paid out hand over fist - leading me to believe that the bigger firms have a different server for their machines than the small firms, in much the same way that SIS works.
We lost the lot - House, loans, savings, things we sold.
Some went to rogue traders on the house and money to repair their damage plus still do the work. The rest went in Bank charges, Licences - Especially the Gambling Commission, 1 shop, 1 licence.... nearly £10,000 in just over 4 years to them alone. I hate the Gambling Commission with a passion, it serves NO purpose at all. Premises Licence, duty, wages, rent, SIS (over £20K a year), footy coupons, early prices, accountancy etc etc etc ALL plus VAT which cannot be claimed back.
Now I'm skint and yesterday for the first time since March 2011 had a Saturday off and I was bored and quite miserable, to be honest.
But the industry is finished. There are hardly any small bookies left, and most of those have reduced their shop numbers.
My advice and it's advice I should have taken myself, is DO NOT open a betting shop.
They are all types of amusement arcade (events every minute) plus various machines and they all now on High streets and shopping centre.
Most of the community type shops have closed as their customer base has died off or they have less expendable income.
The online business has hoovered up most of the biggest losers. At least until the online punters cannot use cards or bank accounts any more. Then they revert to shop betting with what little cash they can raise. The whole set-up is based on having 1000's of outlets or an online presence, not for one or 2 shops.
I am now jaded, bitter and a bit angry. There's no assistance for struggling business in this country, no sympathy for bookmakers and a very different future for me.
Sorry if this is rambling and a bit long, but if I save just one family from going through what I have for the last 5 years, then I've done a good thing.
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Best of luck for the future m8.
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I might just add, I've been in the business for many years as well as 10 years in Casinos as well as working on course.
So I don't think there was any big error made on my part. |
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Thanks saddo.... want to swap user names?
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all the best mate, no interest from the firms of buying it, Paddys in the market for shops
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Very sorry to hear that study,dont want the postcode but what sort of location was the shop located in?
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West Mids.
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I reckon, the dealer, they just wait for shops to close, then take on what's left.
Saves them having to pay anything to people like me. |
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Sorry to hear this studyform. The big error you made was opening in the 1st place i'm afraid, like a lot of businesss' the Betting office has had it's day. Overheads were quite a lot when i got out over 30 years ago but at least we had plenty of punters every day to make a decent living wage. You have my sympathy, hope you can find something else to make a living from.
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genuinely sorry to hear that Study. good post and hope it all works out.
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STUDYFORM,
I am genuinely sorry to hear of your plight! A sad tale indeed!  |
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Thank you folks.
I do have an alternative future planned, stewarts rise, totally away from the game and involving me moving back down south and completely reliant on the help of friends. The stresses of moving house and dealing with the closure of the business and starting up the new thing are many, but who knows? I might be more relaxed by Xmas and I'll even get some evenings off without having to keep an eye on late results, footy and golf!! |
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Hopefully you will bounce back from your misfortune, studyform.
All the very best for the future. |
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A shame for my staff though, there are 3 more people going to the Job Centre, even though I did try everything I could to avoid it.
(probably added to my debts and skintness in doing so, unfortunately). |
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Sad story, mate. The industry is on its uppers imho.
Best of luck of the future whatever you decide to do. |
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Horrid news.
It all seems so unfair. FOBT's which seem to have paid out hand over fist - leading me to believe that the bigger firms have a different server for their machines than the small firms, in much the same way that SIS works. |
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Amazing isn't it that some of the things we call mug bets, such as the irish lotto, 49ers, football accas and the Fobts can really work out badly for a one man operation. Nothing worse than having a good day on normal racing then some plonker has 5 or 6 winners on the football and you can't do b*gger all about it!
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FOBT Roulette, (which I had had removed a bit famously [papers, radio, TV] as I was trying to make a stand aginst the addictive nature of the game) was put back on to the machines in order to entice a different bookie (so at his request) to take the shop on. It promptly lost over £4,000 in a few days.
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Always sad to hear about small honest businesses going bust while the big sharks nibble away
Hopefully itmakes you stronger |
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I'm truly sorry to read this news Study. I hope that things get better for you and Mrs Study very soon.
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So you've lost the lot and are in debt with loans, but are starting up a new business?!
Crikey! |
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Sorry to hear that news, Study.
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Guess it's just the law of averages with things like the lotto bets. A firm with 100 shops will turnover plenty and can absorb the hits whereas if someone with one or two shops gets hit by a fluke win they can't.
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The price of Turftv and SIS for a small independent is shocking. As you say the Gambling Commission are the biggest waste of space ever (joint first with the Racing Post). Good luck for the future. Things can change quickly in life maybe some good fortune will come your way.
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bad luck study..
hows the big firms keeping shops open? wont take a decent bet..after 6pm the shops are empty! amazing how i can remember 30yrs ago when i was young every shop was full from 3pm when the clubs&pubs closed...nowadays the recession has caught up and not many can afford to gamble...and only serial losers are tolerated.Gambling commission should take a look at the bookmakers who close every winning account...its all a fcuking farce. |
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Passed through an area of a Northern town Saturday, Billy and Joe`s only 2 bookies in the area, 800 meters apart, Joes was showing the footy so it had the most punters,
On one of the tables were large plates of Cheese Sarnies, pork pies and Quiche for the punters, Free internal wi-fI as long as you don't access This Site, One punter "Rarin up" his bet was 10 seconds too late for a 2 Mile race, Bet Voided, The local "ciggie smuggler" was telling me about the Footy Acca he was having; Man City, Everton, Southampton, Luton (all Won) and Spurs Monday, Casino bandit machines were buzzing as punters fed them £20`s, Staff were offering the Punters free £5 bets to open more accounts, WTF, Its a changing Era that's for sure. Sorry to hear about your plight Study. |
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The big firms keep the shops open because they make their money from the FOBTs. Simple as that. The day will come when they decide Horse Racing has become so peripheral that they will simply slash their funding of the sport. And it won't be that far down the line, either.
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not in area i live barton...very few have spare money these days.
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Millhouse always had it spot on regarding the major bookmakers. They've positioned themselves so they have influence at the Racing Post, ATR, SIS, increasingly at RUK and perhaps with Rust in charge now at the BHA. They are always one step ahead of their counterparts in Racing.
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Spot on BB. Racing is nowadays merely the necessary evil required to keep the shops open and "legit". It's a smoke screen tat's all.
Why the BHA can't see this is beyond me.... |
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* that's all
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I may have the wrong impression but I thought the FOBTs did relatively well in areas where very few people had spare money.
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Oh yes, I'd forgotten about the RP. They ought to rename it the Badblokes and Baldfred advertiser.
The RP display paper has so much crap in it, you need to be a jigsaw puzzle enthusiast with the wall space of the Tate gallery just to put up each day's racing. and another £35 a week for papers  roida, the big firms absorb the losing shops costs within the overall take from their whole estate. Their overheads are also about 60% of those of the small firm's. This means that where I need to make £350-£400 a day profit to stand still, the big firms need to make £250-£300. GeorgeB, no, I'm not starting up a new business. I just have a new opportunity working for a mate of mine in a new venture. Sid, They keep promising they won't keep promoting the FOBTs but the lip-service to the Gambling commission, who in turn pretend things are being done, then they all stay as they are making a nice living. Barton, The shops are in big shopping areas and away from local places so machine punters can remain anonymous. Horse racing has (largely thanks to Savile's -peter not jimmy- work) become an expensive sport with too much financial demand for its "product". This is a part of the reason racing is less prevalent and the big firms are trying to prove to the racing industry that they aren't as important as they used to be. In part, they're right. But the BHB can only see income because like the govt, they think bookmaking is a license to print money. Fen, Muntz, cheers, I may speak with you soon |
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The bookies opened MORE shops for the FOBT angle but racing is still important to them. Otherwise why are they always pushing for more of it?
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They push for more of it because as things stand, there are enough losing punters betting on it to make it worth their while to do so. The way interest is falling I would not bank on that being the case in ten, or even five years time.
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They haven't opened more. Just replaced where they are, thefear.
The FOBT's work on about 5% net profit on take, which after the expense of actually renting them and duty, means they need to be played all the time in as many shops as possible. They certainly don't make fortunes for outlets that have most business over the counter. |
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and meanwhile london has just taken in another 10k eastern europeans but study is oop north now ..suck it up deserter..... some of us wont ever leave... no one likes us
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Figures released this week show Cleveland-Boro now has has the highest %% of immies per head of locals, and some were shipped from the South,
The local council also sold Streets of houses at £1 per house to "Developers", but the Sh!tholes need a lot of work. |
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Did you see the letter from Ben Keith of Star Sports in the RP today?
Asking how could "results have been bad" for the big firms. "Why do we have to suffer, for the umpteenth time, not only the pathetic but also patronising excuse from the corporate people running The Firms that the 'results have been bad' and they haven't made any money, yet again?" "Did 29 come in a bit too often in a shop in Middlesbrough? Do they have a shrewdie on the 49's in Norfolk?"  |
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The RP is quite careful about what letters it prints and will never say bad things about the big firms, it won't bite the hands that feed it.
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