On line gambling.

[crystal ball]

My mates late FIL was a serious player, studying form, visiting racecourses, he won big enough to regularly pay for family holidays for his two daughters & give them new cars every few years

 

[Deleted member 18243]

My mates late FIL was a serious player, studying form, visiting racecourses, he won big enough to regularly pay for family holidays for his two daughters & give them new cars every few years

That's unlikely but if true an extremely rare example of anyone profiting from betting. Gamblers brag when they win but never mention the much more frequent instances when they lose, and how much they lose.

The worst thing about betting on horses is the cruelty to the animals. At least one horse dies every week in British races, see the link hereunder, and it's a horrible death. All those involved in the sport are responsible for killing these horses.

Race Horse Death Watch

 

[noseall]

Just a look at the calibre of people that loiter in betting shops and casinos will tell you all you need to know about gambling.

The same folk that loiter in boozers. I was in St Helens a few years back after playing golf up there. We ended up in a boozer in town, with a bookies next door. Genius move for the bookies. I watched as punters, race after race would anxiously watch the tele in the pub as their weekly wages were wasted in the bookies next door. Out they'd go, screwing up their ticket to go and place another losing bet.

Sad and stupid at the same time. No one in my close family bothers with gambling, thankfully. I do know addicts though.

 

[Mottie]

My dad used to say "Go in any bookies and they'll be six windows for taking money and only one to pay out".

 

[Deleted member 18243]

The same folk that loiter in boozers. I was in St Helens a few years back after playing golf up there. We ended up in a boozer in town, with a bookies next door. Genius move for the bookies. I watched as punters, race after race would anxiously watch the tele in the pub as their weekly wages were wasted in the bookies next door. Out they'd go, screwing up their ticket to go and place another losing bet.

Sad and stupid at the same time. No one in my close family bothers with gambling, thankfully. I do know addicts though.

The pub will probably be gone now but the bookies will still be there. On all poor, run-down estates where most of the shops have closed there will still be a bookies and a shop where you can buy lottery tickets and fags, and most of the turnover in these businesses will come from benefit money.

St. Helens is a right dump btw. Not as bad as Skelmersdale though.

 

[noseall]

The pub will probably be gone now but the bookies will still be there. On all poor, run-down estates where most of the shops have closed there will still be a bookies and a shop where you can buy lottery tickets and fags, and most of the turnover in these businesses will come from benefit money.

St. Helens is a right dump btw. Not as bad as Skelmersdale though.

Pubs and bookies...Great British institutions.

 

[crystal ball]

That's unlikely but if true an extremely rare example of anyone profiting from betting. Gamblers brag when they win but never mention the much more frequent instances when they lose, and how much they lose.

The worst thing about betting on horses is the cruelty to the animals. At least one horse dies every week in British races, see the link hereunder, and it's a horrible death. All those involved in the sport are responsible for killing these horses.

Race Horse Death Watch

Not unlikely it is true, as you did not know the person in question why do you surmise I am lying?

 

[Deleted member 18243]

Not unlikely it is true, as you did not know the person in question why do you surmise I am lying?

Do you believe everything everybody tells you?

 

[crystal ball]

Do you believe everything everybody tells you?

No but I saw the evidence with my own eyes, I certainly do not believe anything that spews from your imagination

 

[johnny2007]

I don't gamble but one day I walked in a pub with a friend who used to.
He convinced me to put £2 each in a fruit machine.
Within a couple of rounds we were up £200.
I made him cash up and I collected my winnings.
He kept playing and lost it all.
I bought him a pint...

 

[Deleted member 292770]

Not a gambler but cashed in premium bonds and invested many thousands in pfizer and az not long after the word pandemic was starting to be bandied about.
Cashed out after the fourth seiss grant was announced.

 

[JP_]

I never gamble after a very bad experience in the early 70's when we used to have a bookies runner in work.

What happened?

I don't gamble. My dad is mad about horse racing and bets, something my brothers followed. But I don't see the point.

My idea of a gamble is buying a jalfrezi from the local takeaway.

 

[conny]

What happened?

I don't gamble. My dad is mad about horse racing and bets, something my brothers followed. But I don't see the point.

My idea of a gamble is buying a jalfrezi from the local takeaway.

Basically started off as 50p each way on a horse, then a few weeks later was encouraged to do it for 2 horses then add another etc. Being a youngster, and seeing other people winning on what seemed a regular basis, you can easily be influenced. Had the odd win or place and of course the runner encourages you by saying things like, "your luck seems to be changing. Add a few more bob to your bets." So stupidly you do. Then suddenly he says he can set up a tab for you where you place your bets but don't pay for them until you have a win. I was not the only gullible 17 year old who took up his offer. It got to the point where when you did win you didn't see any of your winnings because it was used to pay towards what you owed the 'bookie'. Got to the stage where he started telling some of us we had to pay for our bets but half of what we staked, plus any winnings, would be used to pay towards clearing off our debt. By now some of us were paying around £5 a bet of which half was going to the runner/bookie. I ended up with a debt just short of £1,200 shortly before I was due to get married shortly before my 19th birthday. Took a bank loan out, (ostensibly for a second hand car), and 'tricked' the runner into saying how much I owed and he suggested increasing my stake a little so if I won I'd win more. Told him probably do that the next day. Next day comes and I asked how much I owed so I could work out how much I could afford to increase my stakes. When he told me I simply took an envelope out my pocket and counted out what he said it was. Something like £1,165 or thereabouts. He was gobsmacked when I told him to take his money but I wanted a written receipt stating my account had been fully paid up. When he tried to refuse 'Big Ian' simply told him to do as I had asked. Nobody refused Big Ian. LOL
I swore that I would never ever gamble or get into debt to a money lender again. And I never have, with the exception of the odd lottery ticket or £5 on the shuffle board arcade machines.

 

[Deleted member 18243]

That's a good story Conny and it shows the sort of evil characters found in the world of gambling.

Betting, as we know it today, was illegal until the early 1960s. It was only allowed at racecourses. When off-track betting was legalised your high street betting shops opened up. Fortunes were made, lives were destroyed. Was the legalisation a good thing or a bad thing?

Similarly, up until the early 1960s you could not buy alcoholic drink anywhere except for licensed premises such as pubs, clubs and restaurants. In the early 1960, "off" licences were granted and you could buy booze in shops, and later in supermarkets. This led to the slow death of pubs and the rise of drinking at home. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Many today call for the legalisation of drugs. Would this be a bad thing or a bad thing?

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Just a look at the calibre of people that loiter in betting shops and casinos will tell you all you need to know about gambling.

Could say a lot about this place too. Present company excepted....................of course.