Placing a bet

[ingoldale]

Like myself, I am sure many have placed a bet on the football in a betting shop at some point. I haven't done so in a while and before reading this fully expected to either during the Euros or next season but now I'm thinking about reconsidering.

A great piece of journalism well worth the 25-30 minutes it takes to read. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/31/big-gamble-dangerous-british-betting-shops

I know it's not football but with our League's and competitions increasingly sponsored by betting companies I think it's worthy of a place on this forum considering it's content and impact on British society.

[Crusoe]

Placing a bet

Thanks for posting that. A very depressing read, but worthwhile.

[RobM]

Placing a bet

It certainly is worth a place on this forum.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Placing a bet

Thirded. That's appalling.

[Paul S]

Placing a bet

That is indeed a very long article but very well written and researched. I think of the number of times I've been in betting shops - particularly in the evening - and there's only been one person in charge. It's appalling what the betting companies are doing and the way they're behaving, but what can we do about it?

[Crusoe]

Placing a bet

Not bet in them, for a start?

[Paul S]

Placing a bet

True.

But the number of places to watch live racing is declining. I'm lucky, I have Romford dogs to go to, but not everyone has that option.

[Patrick Thistle]

Placing a bet

I think I'm in a minority of 1 here but I've never placed a bet in a betting shop. Or bet in any other way either.

The working conditions outlined in that piece are awful.

[Crusoe]

Placing a bet

Patrick Thistle wrote: I think I'm in a minority of 1 here but I've never placed a bet in a betting shop. Or bet in any other way either.

The working conditions outlined in that piece are awful.

No, I haven't either. Never bet online or in a shop, just the odd office sweepstake.

Edit - oh yeah, and the lottery, for a bit.

[Capybara]

Placing a bet

Me too. I went in a betting shop once, over 40 years ago, with a friend who was picking up winnings. I wouldn't even know where to start when placing a bet.

[ad hoc]

Placing a bet

This minority of ours is larger than we thought. I'm in too.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Placing a bet

Me too. Office sweepstakes and the lottery are the extent of my gambling. I've got a lot of friends who do the online betting thing but it just doesn't appeal.

[Wouter D]

Placing a bet

Patrick Thistle wrote: I think I'm in a minority of 1 here but I've never placed a bet in a betting shop. Or bet in any other way either.

I've bet in casinos (Utrecht, Macau, and Atlantic City; probably the only common factor between those three cities) and in the Dutch state lottery, but never in betting shops.

[ursus arctos]

Placing a bet

High Street Betting Shops were one of the most perplexing aspects of "British culture" that 16 year old ursus experienced on his first trip to the UK.

Their ubiquity was perplexing to someone coming from a country where only one state allowed casinos and no more than a handful had lotteries, and they uniformly seemed to be quite sad establishments.

A few years later, New York City replicated them in many ways with its "Off Track Betting Parlors", which tried to go upscale before realising that the real money was in bare bones volume operations that would have been instantly recognisable to UK visitors (who would have only wondered why they only took bets on horse racing in New York).

The OTB parlours were killed by the internet, and it strikes me that many of the UK parlours would have experienced a similar fate were it not for the FOBTs, which have demonstrably increased the security risk.

From an outsider's perspective, allowing bets of 50 quid every 20 seconds in such a setting is quite insane. Those are very much casino volumes, which should only be allowed on premises with casino-like security (if they are to be allowed at all).

[sw2borshch]

Placing a bet

Our dad’s fairly into horse racing, so I’ve spent many a half hour reading the Beano in the car whilst he slipped into the bookies, occasionally going in with him on Grand National day or whatever, plus had many a trip to the dogs’ as a kid too. I’ve probably made a few dozen bets as an adult, mainly ante post football bets, but occasionally on a score and a handful actually at the dog/horse races. Never had an online account though.

That’s not counting blind cards, sweepstakes, meat raffles, keys to the door and all that kind of thing.

I also had a play casino when I was about eight, roulette wheel, baize, the lot.

[sw2borshch]

Placing a bet

Image of Bart Simpson's casino.

Me, thirty-five years ago.

[Paul S]

Placing a bet

I only do £2 bets. I went to the Grand National last year and did only £2 bets, I did the Cheltenham Gold Cup the year before and did the same, only £2 bets. I tried an online account but it didn't interest me and eventually I got an e-mail telling me that accounts which weren't used for over six months incurred charges for keeping them open, so I closed it down. I've never done bets on football or bet in play, it simply doesn't interest me.

Does anyone here bet in play?

[Gerontophile]

Placing a bet

This single manning thing is not new. It was happening when I was managing in 1985/6. This was just as the changeover was happening to screens, and no boardmarker was needed.

Admittedly, in those days, night racing was only in the summer, there was no Sunday racing or shop opening and there were no opportunities to bet on foreign racing (except when it was postponed in the UK, and they would take coverage from French trotting races).

I usually only worked in smaller shops as a relief manager, before I got my own shop in Westbourne Grove, which was not exactly huge.

I can't recall ever feeling scared, and shops usually always had 3 or 4 regulars in, who you got to chatting with, so maybe that helped.

The banking thing rings true even then. We were told never to take the same route to the bank in consecutive days; not to carry change (it slowed you down if you had to run, although, no-one ever took change to a bank, as we always need it); and if anyone ever had a big win (over 500 quid IIRC) either get them to take a cheque, or try to get them to go to the bank with you, so that the responsibility of carrying the money, then fell to the customer.

The company I worked for had the motto "Where the Customer Comes First". You can make up your own comments about that.

[Southport Zeb]

Placing a bet

I've not bet in a betting shop either, although I have bet on a couple of visits to racecourses.

A friend of mine worked in a betting shop whilst he was at university. He dreaded Grand National day as the place was much busier than normal, with most of the non- regulars needing to be talked through the process of placing bets.

[Patrick Thistle]

Placing a bet

I feel much better about my lack of worldly experiences now.

I need to revise my comment about gambling as I stayed in a hotel in Vegas that gave you a 'gift card' for their casino and I spent my free $10 on the slots. I also rapidly lost the £5 credit on roulette we were all given when my office team decided our Christmas meal should be at the local casino.

That was a distinctly unglamorous affair, really. My chief memory of the local casino was the 2 or 3 tracksuited individuals who seemed rather desparate and were handing over note after note in exchange for chips so they could bet on roulette. I'm not sure they were problem gamblers but they didn't have the look of people who could just chuck money away.

The casino in Vegas was pretty boring too. Just fruit machines but none of those fun games you get in an arcade like when you try to get the gravity-defying pennies to drop or whatever.

So, to clarify, I've only ever gmabled the 'free money' given out by the house. Which the house made back pronto.

[Hofzinser]

Placing a bet

Bloody hell, compared to you lot, I'm a complete degenerate.

[Crusoe]

Placing a bet

Well yes, but what's your gambling experience like?

[San Bernardhinault]

Placing a bet

I've gambled in a bunch of ways - online betting, at the dogs and horses, at casinos in Vegas, and so on - but even so I never saw a reason to actually go into a betting shop. It always seemed seedy (and not in a good way), but also a little intimidating, because I'd be the only person in there who hadn't the faintest idea what he was doing.

[ursus arctos]

Placing a bet

The article (and this thread) tends to confirm my suspicion that High Street betting shops always served a relatively small proportion of the population, relying heavily on "regulars".

The FOBTs have created a new class of "regulars", but it isn't clear to me that their appearance has offset the demographic decline in the original population.

[caja-dglh]

Placing a bet

Hofzinser wrote: Bloody hell, compared to you lot, I'm a complete degenerate.

Watch out, here he comes with his 'game of skill' stories .

I can do casino games live, refuse to play any FBOT's (which in some casino's in the US are actually all they have). I have no idea how to fill out a betting slip in the US or UK but get how to read the odds in each country.

The idea of not being able to see into any bookies actually made me really unnerved about ever considering going in to one. Didn't work that way with the 3/4 obscured windows on bars though.