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And a real eye opener to finally see what has been talked about on here. The shop was a Laddies and tiny, probably the smallest I have ever been in thar wasn't an independent. I had an hour to kill so wandered in just to see what had changed over the years.
The first thing that struck me was the FOBT's i had read so much about, they looked over 2.5m in height with three screens, 4 out of the 5 being occupied, one guy shouted to the manager to turn off the one he was playing 4 times in about 20 minutes whilst he disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a wad of notes which he then fed into the same machine.
The screens were constantly showing betting shows from numerous meetings I had never heard of and assumed were virtual meetings but Bendigo turned out to be dogs in I assume Australia, 8 dog races? There was no respite from some form of action but only 2 punters actually betting. The actual horse racing had started but other than the 2 and 4 on the machines there were 2 others sitting at one of the 2 small tables just yapping.
I had £80 on Turenne at Catterick and got mugged on the line, then £180 on Doctors Hill @ 6/4, no bog, i asked the cashier if this could be paid back to my card and he looked at me as if he thought might be senile and explained it is automatically returned to the card. That answered a question i have seen asked on here about payment.
An interesting hour but not sure I could have stood much longer with seemingly perpetual action of one form or another and continuous commentary making it difficult to concentrate on the RP cards in addition to the noise of the machines. It put some meat on the bone of things I have read on here about betting shops and i can see how reliant they must be on the FOBT's, even though this shop was in the city centre, opposite was a Paddies I did not go in.
I doubt either will be there for long if the gaming tax is raised, based on what I saw on a decent days racing on a Friday in the city centre, the machines were all that was keeping the Laddies open imo.
The first thing that struck me was the FOBT's i had read so much about, they looked over 2.5m in height with three screens, 4 out of the 5 being occupied, one guy shouted to the manager to turn off the one he was playing 4 times in about 20 minutes whilst he disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a wad of notes which he then fed into the same machine.
The screens were constantly showing betting shows from numerous meetings I had never heard of and assumed were virtual meetings but Bendigo turned out to be dogs in I assume Australia, 8 dog races? There was no respite from some form of action but only 2 punters actually betting. The actual horse racing had started but other than the 2 and 4 on the machines there were 2 others sitting at one of the 2 small tables just yapping.
I had £80 on Turenne at Catterick and got mugged on the line, then £180 on Doctors Hill @ 6/4, no bog, i asked the cashier if this could be paid back to my card and he looked at me as if he thought might be senile and explained it is automatically returned to the card. That answered a question i have seen asked on here about payment.
An interesting hour but not sure I could have stood much longer with seemingly perpetual action of one form or another and continuous commentary making it difficult to concentrate on the RP cards in addition to the noise of the machines. It put some meat on the bone of things I have read on here about betting shops and i can see how reliant they must be on the FOBT's, even though this shop was in the city centre, opposite was a Paddies I did not go in.
I doubt either will be there for long if the gaming tax is raised, based on what I saw on a decent days racing on a Friday in the city centre, the machines were all that was keeping the Laddies open imo.
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Where was this?
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Chelmsford.
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Chelmsford is a long way from the Amalfi Cag?
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I have been here since before Remembrance Sunday as i do most years.
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You will have to learn to count better, Glen. Four FOBT’s.
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Did you not have a game of bingo.
Hope you are well. Ronnie. |
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It might have been four Kenbo, thought there was one behind me tbh, so all occupied that being the case.
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Would that have been a betting terminal that was behind me? Never took much notice of that tbh and never seen one. Never noticed bingo Ronnie but assumed the numbered balls were for 49s or whatever it might be?
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Sorry Ronnie, yes I am pretty well, best for years tbh, hope you are well yourself, are you still working or have you taken well earned retirement?
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Cagliari.
Fine thanks part time. |
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Good Ronnie, what do you think regarding closures if the gaming taxes are raised re-closures? I should have mentioned there is a Hills shop close to the two I mentioned, only glanced in but it is even smaller than the Laddies, hard to fathom that they would be the size of the toilets of the bookies I remember decades ago.
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Cal shops are closing before the budget got 3 in all playing bingo.
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It all sounds worrying Ronnie, just not viable it seems and without the FOBT's no hope of surviving which maybe as it should be tbh. The unfortunate consequence is obviously the inevitable job losses and the effect it will have on Racing finances but I doubt the Govt will give it a second thought.
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one guy shouted to the manager to turn off the one he was playing 4 times in about 20 minutes whilst he disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a wad of notes which he then fed into the same machine.
was gonna pay out any minute! |
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anuther boring blog from the forums biggest storyteller cudnt go the trip without a sublime aftertime.
did you try selling the cashier your £600,000 betting cistern? #walofs |
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No surprise that the biggest loser in Forum history has a troll, plenty in common with those FOBT addicts!! Did you lose much on Eubank " Cant see how he gets beat" shafter? lol
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Yes, Glen, four maximum. Think most shops have three betting terminals. They seem more popular than the FOBT’s nowadays.
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Thanks kenbo, totally alien to me. Btw shafter the only reason I mentioned the bets was to do with the payment method which had been discussed on here and a first for me but I have just dug the receipt for £180 out of my wallet if you want to go double or quits on the £5K you are welching on?
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The shops haven't changed since 10 year ago
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Was fobts 15 year ago .was virtual. Was aussy dogs.
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80 on the looser and 180 on an aftertimed winner is the best cistern ysoc.
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Good old Glen. He just can't help himself. Would the said bets have been mentioned if they had both lost? Nope!
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both invented anywaze.
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the older set have realised they're punting 9/2 shots at 100/30 (and therefore cannot win) and the younger set aren't interested.
result - empty shop. |
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98% of shop punters dont know/care about value...just the buzz..if the last race of the day was a coin toss 5/6
each they'd all have a bet. |
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In my degenerate days I only left a shop when they closed or I ran out of cash whichever came first
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i was in till the death when i was young..never left myself skint tho..if i had a bad day i nicked the safe.
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Time to resurrect, again, that old betting shop regulars thread. Anyone please?
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Might not be the one you had in mind Jumper45 but thanks to Google I was able to find the topic pictured below.
[ This image is no longer available. ] Problem is that it's on the now defunct Chit Chat Forum. Anyway, I opened the thread and used the 'Report' button to ask the Moderators to transfer the topic/thread to the Horse Racing Forum. To be honest, I don't hold out much hope. Here's a link to the original topic on Chit Chat (the link's legit, it just looks different as I used Tinyurl to shorten it).... https://tinyurl.com/sw5czh3h |
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Thanks very much. Always a good read.
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