Apologists for the bookies ?

The gentleman who is currently trailing you would be the closest.

No anger , rocket , just world weariness at watching some spout about how much they lay .  Have experienced about 10 closures / limitations from memory over the years  , so not kindly disposed towards most of them .  The principle of not allowing any punters to be winners flies in the face of my sporting instincts .

The first bookie who refused me a bet is long dead , became a good friend subsequent to that refusal  , played golf with me most weekends ,  offered me jobs in his organisation many times . He knew I knew .

Nowadays the bookies refuse bets all the time , limit stakes , offer ludicrous limitations ( one offered me 50p each way a horse last week  , a 5/1 shot ) .  Why would I lke them ?

And I think any government which allows FOBT's should be pilloried .

Gary Wiltshire now on telly saying the bookies want people in their shops ( but no value on the racecourse ). Offer value and few restrictions and the better ones will get business  in their shops .

Anyone hear of the 50k e/w bet on SNA at the Breeders Cup. I found it hard to believe but people I spoke to were adamant it was laid.

V.I.P accounts never get knocked back I presume in return for inside information, racing journalists too in return for their silence, when was the last time you heard or read anything negative about bookmakers from a racing hack?, can't remember?.

They play cat and mouse with Joe Public by knocking them back at every opportunity to balance out the books to guarantee a profit at the end of each day no matter what way the results unfold.

The most hypocritical thing of all is the closing of winning accounts, their motto thou shall not win EVER!, yet all the losing accounts would swallow up the few winning accounts one hundred fold, not to mention the betting shop fodder losses.
Unfortunately there's no law to stop them doing this though it flies in the face of how a business should operate.
They're offering a product and you the punter are paying for this product, you win consistently for just a few weeks you can kiss your ass goodbye.

Example, a guy opens up a video store and not enough people are renting out his videos, the shop is showing a steady loss what does he do continue on and hope things will pick up or close the shop altogether insuring he doesn't go further into depth?, most likely the latter.
The big bookmaking business don't have to face this scenario, they can insure against this by simply closing or limiting to a mere pittance the few winning accounts, and knocking back to balance the books.
They're not bookmakers in the traditional sense merely accountants.

Oh if I could come back in another life as a top politician I would try to introduce legislation where it would be against the law for bookmakers to close winning accounts and make sure that they can't knock back or limit anyone once they want to place a bet for €100 or less no matter what the price of the horse.

Every other business faces risks, they depend entirely on the consumer buying their product, clever advertisement often helps, bookmakers are pretty shrewd advertisers, sucking in new customers with the promise of free bets or free tea/coffee and biscuits for the betting shop punter, but dare you have the audacity to actually win they don't want your business anymore.

Bookmaking is a huge industry but somethings not right when all these millions of pounds/euros are changing hands everyday that their is no law to protect the betting consumer?.

They offer you a price you take that price and if it wins its their tough sh!t, or if it loses which will be more often than not for the vast majority its your tough sh!t, but as we know it doesn't work that way its all too one sided!.

bookies are becoming a joke . ladbrokes where putting up a soccer hotpot at 2/1 a few weeks ago .i asked for 150 on it they offered me nothing on it . then the next day i was in a ladsbrokes shop 100 miles away . i had 200 each way on a 4/1 shot .i payed for it and was sitting back in my  the car when a girl came out to tell the bet was cancelled and wanted me to come back and get my money .but i didnt . can they do that . the horse finish second , so i went into another shop to pick it up and there was a note on the computer saying i had to go back to the shop where i done it .so i rang up head office to see what was going on .they told me the bet was cannelled and the money was the shop i done it in .so i asked how much and she told me 360 and i said i taught you said it was cancelled and i asked her what right had they to do that .she told me they could cancelled a bet at any time . so i asked her how is there only 360 . she then told me it was a place only bet . so i told her if it was place only there should be 560 there for me .  she then hung up the phoned . i still have the docket .can they do that .**** have pictures of 30 or so people and they are nunbered and i happen to be one of them 30 .can they do this .have they got a right to do this . can they hold photographs of people without there permission. i promise them i will get them big time .

lads are gone to the dogs lately?are they broke or what?friend of mine had 200 ew a few days ago on a 9/2 shot...it won..he went in to collect and they told him he would have to call the following day at a specified time?!?!!?..he stated he was passing thru and at least give hime his stake back and he could collect his winnings at a shop nearer where he lives?...they said no..he had to collect it all the foll day at a shop near him..the above is a true story.when you see smiling hayley on tv smiling telling porkies about what big bets  they take etc it would make you sick..a joke outfit who id say are gettting worse judging by above story..

I think one of the biggest problems the bookies have nowadays is that there are fewer addictive punters than there used to be . Shops I see no longer have punters standing there betting on every race . The availability of 24/7 betting opportunities strangely enough makes punters more selective in my experience , the need to "have a bet " is more easily accomodated now with internet access all day / night .

The thrust from the bookies ( as partly evidenced by new appointments in PP ) now is not towards traditional betting on horses , dogs and football , but on the colour of the refs underpants , will somebody be sent off , etc .  The younger punters do not have same attitude of the more traditional punter .  Some people even have the delusion that they can win playing roulette etc ( or FOBT's , God forbid ) .

Casino games , FOBT's , are all evidence of where the industry sees its ( financial ) future . One bookie of my acquaintance more or less gave up his interest in the family business to develope gaming premises  , that was his view of the future .

For a level playing field , no roulette table should be allowed a zero  , wonder how many would be offering roulette in that circumstance . Never visited a casino in my life , why would you , the odds are very specifically stacked against you unless you were Dustin Hoffmans brother , and think they even have shut that door .

Again, playing devils advocate to add a little balance to proceedings, the one thing people have to understand is that a bookie can not, i repeat CAN NOT, beat a smart punter who only bets for value and has the discipline to go along with it.

The bookie is the one setting the odds and the punter is not under an obligation to enter into any bet unless on his terms.

Here is a question for you Kelly. If you were a bookie would you be prepared to lay your odds to an unlimited ammount of money knowing that you will make a mistake sometimes and when you do you will be banged to rights by a punter who only bets for value.

I know every time you lay a bet on here you become a bookie but the difference is your laying to limits so when you make a mistake their is a limit to your downside.

Can you really expect a bookie to price up every single event and lay odds to unlimited ammounts when he needs to be right 100% of the time with his book while the punter can wait and wait until the bookie makes a mistake.

u bad with yer nerves up this time a night

No my nerves are fine. On night shift with our 5 week old little boy. The little monkey just wont sleep when he is supposed to. Lucky if i get 4 hours sleep a day this past month. Good to pop on here for a yarn.

If i had to make a spread on how many times i have been in a bookies over the past year it would be 10-12. Normally when i am out with a bit of time to kill.

Last time i was in a local bookies it was around mid day and i counted 17 Portuguesse fellas in the one shop all around the fruit machines.

Funny the way some cultures and countries are more into gambling than others. Never see a Portuguese having a deuce on an even money shot on the horses!

There is probably more eastern european nationals in my area but they dont seem to gamble at all.

Plenty of Irish racing apologists.

Since Ladbrokes have went back on oddschecker they are cutting way more prices on horse racing.Everyone of the firms on oddschecker just seem to follow eachother,really sad when you scan through a few races and realise that nearly everone is the smae price any horse with a chance.

Mandy is a disgrace in lads,wont lay anything,B r uces have their bets going to head office now as well,can see the rest following suite that you cannot get bets on in shops that dont know you,everything over 100 through head office.