Are the days of "gambling for fun"gone?

Take away the pink button and we go back to 2000…..it was more enjoyable then imo

Some people never think about this.
When you walk into a bookie shop and put £1 on a 33/1 shot ,in real terms the Bookie is putting down £33 of his own money to buy your £1 of you.

Punting for fun only has never been an option Brass , there's a name for those particular punters   

Nothing at all wrong with being a flutterer provided you fit the required criteria.

i suppose when we all started gambling ,our very first bet was a fun bet.

Don't know about fun but it was illegal that's for sure   

When you walk into a bookie shop and put £1 on a 33/1 shot ,in real terms the Bookie is putting down £33 of his own money to buy your £1 of you

but he should be putting down about £58.  hence he'll win, long term.

Itv are in with the bookmakers that’s why they are pushing Sunday evening racing and all the mid week evening racing we will have in the summer, all the bookies want is big fields of handicappers and they are not bothered if it’s rubbish racing and I can see a point where they will only show big fields racing and choose those races at some stage in the future, the winning racing punter who wants small fields will be a thing of the past, you can see itv don’t want small fields

whats the difference for punters between a 5 runner race and a 13 runner race with 8 100 t0 1 shots making up numbers,like in ireland

Fun for me. Increasingly often, I can't be bothered to go through the whole rigmarole of checking form for all the runners in all the races so I just back the ones that are "obviously" value prices after 10 seconds.

Sounds a far better strategy than studying form to me Ramruna   

The promotion of gambling is very poor.The general public only see the seedy side.
Day after day we hear of Tom who comes out to tell you how gambling ruined his life.
We never hear of Gerry who wins hundreds on a regular basis and has just bought a Villa in Lanzarote with last years winnings.
Now thats because the ante gambling lobby are hell bent on showing one side of the story.
The racing industry needs an overhaul showing Fun ,excitement ,and successful gamblers.

And punters need to become a Gerry instead of a Tom.

gerry clearly has bigger mental issues after spending his winnings on a villa in lanzarote

That's probably because for every 2 x Gerry there are 98 x Tom   

Then it is time to teach the Toms to become Gerry's.Its not rocket science,
And if you are a Tom ask yourself this question."how can i improve my gambling?
YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND will tell you where you are going wrong,and it will put you on the road to be a successful punter.
BUT YOU MUST LISTEN TO YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND,ITS THERE TO HELP YOU.

My subconscious told me to throw all the form books on the nearest skip Brass , that's when the games of cat & mouse ended   

The game is far simpler when you bin form study.

THE BEST TIME TO BE A SUCCESSFUL PUNTER WAS 20 YEARS AGO,THE SECOND BEST TIME IS NOW,SO GO  AND DO IT RIGHT THIS MINUTE

Three weeks (and one day) to Cheltenham and no clue as to what runs where. Normally I'd be knee deep in antepost slips and podcasts and Upping the Ante and Road to Cheltenham and stable tours but suddenly it just seems like too much work.

There was a guy in America can't think of his name,wrote books, postman maybe was one book,anyway he had a stint as a professional and his strategy was to find a horse to beat the favourite, if he couldn't he just backed the favourite.

Not a bad strategy imo.

You can test yourself to be a professional punter.
1 start with whatever is in your available to bet balance.
2 give yourself seven days to make profit.
3 does not matter how much the profit is ,once its profit '
4 if you have profit after seven days you are on your way to being a professional.
5 start again after seven days ,to make more profit.
6 its easy when you know how.

A proper pro would do it in just six days (imo).

Wow! This is a real Holy Grail thread. :D

You never know, F4rty might drop in later and share with us how he selects the matches for his AOHW/AOAW thunderings!

if a gambler is losing it is his or hers own fault.its no good blaming others.
you have to ask yourself "why are you losing?"its that simple.
Then correct the reason why you are losing.
most gamblers who are gambling long enough know the reason why they lose.
"and don,t start with the excuse that the results are very bad.There is a winning result in every race and every football match.
ITS YOUR JOB TO FIND THE WINNERS.So take responsibility for YOUR OWN selections.
its time to grow up.and be accountable for your actions when gambling.its called DISCIPLINE.

The Management 19 Feb 24 19:08 
You never know, F4rty might drop in later and share with us how he selects the matches for his AOHW/AOAW thunderings!

Commencing today the football has been kicked into touch…..

Roll on March 23rd ffs…..

Better late than never Ace   

Yep well gone Hayden….concentrate on what I started all those years back….

There are not many backing a 3-3 draw in tonights match between Everton v Palace ,they must have read this thread

bang on brassneck

0-0 matches the fan should get a refund……

Ffs farty skipped another cistern

G Hall - Charles Bukowsi? (Well worth a read anyway if not him).

Can't get my head round this "gambling for fun" bit

Could Hayden please explain how he has come to the conclusion that form study is a waste of time ?   I would gladly stop but how else do you create a tissue or calculate EV - just asking  !!

8.0 to 2.35. whoosh

Pre

That him Lee H F, thanks.

Levelsteakprophet

Would take an age to explain mate and nobody would be interested anyway as i've posted loads of strategies many times.

One thing worth saying though from my perspective is that the day i spend time creating my own tissue anymore on horse racing i'll take up bingo , that said before 2007 i did every day as it was my remit.

Best of luck all   

OP, I try and do both. If I win I'll be happy or happier. I do not mind losing either if bookies do not discriminate post winning eg id verification or obstruct withdrawal.

Studying the form is ok for the Group or Graded races, but handicaps are a waste of time for me. They just do not pay given the effort involved.

Everton 1 - 0, 1 - 1, 2 - 0.

Wily old fox still putting money in all your pockets....BOOM BOOM.

Well done basil

Basil is on his way...........£££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££...

I punt for fun.  I haven't deposited or withdrawn from here for at least five years, probably more, I bet no more that £40/£50 a day (except in Cheltenham week). I pretty much break even after commission.  Why not?

To the OP- last nail in coffin could come next Monday, they done cigs, gambling hinging on Monday, alcohol next??

That is very sensible longbridge.i suggest you read about Megan Lupton.BA MA,she is an expert on marginal gains.
You have your gambling off to a tee,a slight twitch of the belt and you can lead to monumental results without changing any of your gambling strategy.you are on your way my friend,good luck to you .Gambling needs people like you to show it can be fun with added profit.

we all have our own ways but ramruna and hayden are not too far off the mark here imo.

Ask yourself - "Why do I bet ?"
Keep (honest)  records.
Ask yourself "Am I achieving my aims ?"

Betting for fun is not a problem if that is what you want - but know how much your fun is costing ?  Can I get my fun at a cheaper price ?  Wouldn't it be more fun if I won (or lost a bit less) ?

My simple advice - Back (or Lay) prices. Find punter friendly markets - then look for a bet in that market.

In direct answer to the opening post - the days of having a  gamble at best prices are restricted for many.  Personally, I no longer even look at morning prices -  my turnover is hugely reduced - I do other things.

I gamble to supplement my pension so literally every little helps. I follow a handful of tipsters because studying took so long it became almost like being back at work.

I've enjoyed reading this thread. Thanks to all contributors.

Thanks Hayden - I will try to find some of your strategies by looking through your old posts

The clue is commission keep it low as eventually it can take a big chunk of money, don’t take the offers just the basic 2% you’ll be glad you did long term

Agree on the commission thing.  My best strategy (which no longer works) I ran 7/8 years ago yielded £2000 in profit in those two years (I play for small stakes).

I paid over £1200 commission in that period (the 5% days) and saw only £800 upside.

There is also the fact that making profit can also be fun.

So, if you manage it, it can be both.

These days it's extremely difficult to profit on a day-to-day basis of backing or laying given bookies are operating here some of whom with inside info; the risks outweigh the gains. However, if one is extremely lucky with early antepost selections one'd manage risks and a profit could be ensured before the day of the race. But, your card will be marked by "traders" representing the bookies here and elsewhere. There's no Chinese Wall with bookies; bookies always co-operate unless the clients are persistent big losing punters. Then everyone for himself/herself, I believe.

Newcastle racecourse……

I'd also add, the question partly depends on how much profit you want to make - lot easier to make relatively small profits, than to turn massive profits.

Being at a 'pro' level of profits in the current ecosystem is extremely difficult. Making a little extra cash for yourself, spending money, much less difficult.

I mostly aim for the latter

Gambling is scaleable. If you can regularly win a little, then you can win more by scaling up.

Most gamblers lose. We can write that off as entertainment, a hobby like it is for a lot of people. A lot of gamblers also delude themselves into thinking they break even. There will be very few making enough money to live a good life. There will probably be a few who can earn a bit of pocket money over the year. If nothing else we are buying ourselves a bit of hope with each bet struck!

Gambling is scaleable. If you can regularly win a little, then you can win more by scaling up.

In theory, but often not in practice IMO - in particular exchange betting, the more you 'scale up' sometimes the more the market won't let you get matched, or not a prices you want...much easier to get smaller bets or trades matched at better prices and value.

Yes ,i agree with Stu's excellent post,perhaps a good rule should be "To win small but win often"
a drop in the bucket sort of thing.

It can be done (just about) yes brass

I can understand that, Stu. I’d expect most people winning a little are staking a tenner or less on each bet though. Doubling the stake to double the profit shouldn’t be too hard to get matched on here. May be for bigger bets.

what stu said - this place doesn't scale - you cannot get £1000 on at the same price as £1.

Crossed posts, LB but I wouldn’t be suggesting anyone to scale up by a thousand times their stake!

That's a fair question too kenbo - finding exactly the level it will allow you to scale up to is a tricky challenge!

I know nearly everyone on the Betfair Forum are big hitting winners, but I don’t think that’s how it is outside of here. People aren’t comfortable betting more than their usual stake. I’m guessing and would be nice to know from those in the game, but I’d say the average stake in the bookies is nearer to a pound than a tenner.

There will be people on here who can make 2/3% on turnover year after year. They will be the ones who need to get more and more on each year, pretty much knowing the more they can stake the more they make. For the Average Joe, the more you stake the more you lose!

i think that there is FUN at the lower end of the scale,but when a guy starts chasing and is doing £100 a race the FUN stops even if he is winning.But perhaps a guy CAN win ,and also have FUN if he plays small.

It's probably the wrong place to ask the question and get a fair representation of opinions.

By far the biggest % of gamblers imo do it for a bit of fun and as a past time.

This is a good thread,everyone are honest and sincere with their opinions.

I have seen far too many problem gamblers on the chase, it's horrible to watch.

I had one really nice guy who had a massive problem, thankfully at present he has it under control.
He would start with a few £10 bets and depending how results went, he could end up debiting £600 to a £1000 on foreign garbage.

I think all shops have them, Dealer. A bloke in our shop is the same. He’d go in with £100 or so each day. Write out £2 win bets and 10p multis to cover most selections. He’d then do hundreds on the machine via debit card. Later in the day he’s backing £80 win and £10r/f/c each race to try and recoup his machine losses.

People have fun doing crosswords, jigsaws, quizzes etc etc and I have fun analysing a race and coming up with a selection and enjoying the buzz when being correct. This applied when in full time work and only limited but enjoyable time for analysis was available.

After leaving full time work and having much more time fun has morphed into trying to make a profit and the fun element diminishes. My experience of backing horses for profit is like treading water whereas laying can be considerably more successful but can also bring you down to earth with a bump as I have found to my cost.

In my own case I have either gone to the well too often or being greedy, probably both. As pointed out by some below I now try to win a little every day predominantly by laying and less so by backing.

Some on here will recall Call Me Lord coming from another county to win at Hereford recently, I layed it at 300-1 plus thinking it was free money. That was definitely not fun but taught me a lesson to not be greedy.

Sadly you are personally right.

Sorry my reply was to sk

Problem gambling and chasing losses is never 'fun' you are correct dealer.