Britain at the Bookies - new TV Series

I came across this on iplayer today and found it interesting being a bit of a gambler myself - think I will look out for rest of series but also thought I’d share link to episode 1 as it’s only on iplayer for 26 more days and may be of interest to others who punt here.

Britain at the Bookies - Episode 1

Documentary examining the winners and losers in Britain’s gambling revolution. In Huddersfield, there’s a turf war playing out as 11 betting shops operate in the town centre.

Should be interesting mate, as somebody who has spent more time in these places than I really should have (when young) I now look at the result that the large supermarkets are having, forcing smaller, individual shops in smaller towns to close which in effect is turning our town centre’s into gambling den’s and since bookies and chains are commonly the only businesses that can survive in town it means all our town centre’s are close to identical, just a slightly different shade, 50 shades of betting if you will. Its a real shame and actually a little depressing when you see people from other countries come here on vacation or business and point it out with a grimace on their face. Not sure how long it can last tho, surely most people will eventually turn to online betting??

Till I watched this I could not work out why the same chain would have more than one shop in same town centre location but this programme finally answered that - informing me them machines = 50% of shops profit and by law can have no more than 4 machines per shop - so as you say they get round that by having more than 1 shop so they can have another 4 machines. Maybe Government should amend law to no more than 4 machines owned by same business in a 5 mile radius of one another or something like that!

Ok I did not know that, interesting. The problem with setting a new law like that is finding a service to replace it with, the last thing the government will want is more boarded up shops in small town centre’s (I would guess).

I watched this the other day and I thought it was a bad advertisement for gambling. The fixed odds machines can cause terrible addictions and I didn’t particularly care for the manager of the shop.

I’m not a great fan of betting shops. In my younger days I used to frequent them but now I keep away from them

You can be addicted to anything depending who you are and how your wired I guess - alcohol, drugs, sex - whatever it is - I felt sorry for that young lad as he is obviously a compulsive gambler - I myself had an issue in my 20’s I can’t explain it it’s still in me but think I fall between two stalls - I saw some traits in him that are in me but unlike him if I win I don’t need to put it all back on so in that respect I would not say I am compulsive - also I have never been into fruit machines and thus don’t use those new fangled machines which scare me as I hear they are so addictive - I guess I just don’t believe in machines like that as they are programmed to make money so think they pay out when they pay out no matter what you do - where as I believe betting on sports your trying to beat their so called experts judgement - feel there’s a chance and it’s not controlled by the bookies. Alas my problem is being able to cut my losses and let it go - I chase and raise my stakes in a bid to win back what I have lost but if you don’t get that win before you know it the stakes have become massive compared to what I have and earn that it’s no longer fun and that is how I lost so much last year. However some people do show skill and have the right mind set to do well looking for value and I think it should be illegal baring people like that guy who made if they have not cheated – if your willing to fleece compulsives and mugs then they should be made to have to take others bets - something just smacks of unfairness to me that you start to make money and they close your accounts. As I mentioned earlier I lost 15K last year and hope some day to get that back but to think if I ever got lucky and won that much they would then say nope - your no longer welcome because you won is a bit off to me.

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I am a bit behind with this series but it is worth watching - really interesting episode 2 was imo:

Britain at the Bookies
2. Punter vs Bookie

Quite an interesting programme although it fails to acknowledge that the bookmaking industry is in a complete mess. Apparently over 80% of a Betting Shops turnover is made from FOBT’s.

Shrewd punters with easy access to in depth form and an easy way to shop around for the best rates are making hay, so most big bettors are heavily restricted. Also a lot of their profits have to pay for a Horse Racing Levy and race sponsorships, BUT punters no longer bet so much on horses, Football and other sports are on the increase which means theres little point going into shops to bet.

On a personal note I was told to follow Steve Palmer on Golf betting many years ago - I had no idea he’s almost mentally unbalanced.

Well hasn’t been a Hadi-cap in bagging himself a hot misses. Also in episode 3 that guy with the flat cap and younger fiancé (at Doncaster race track) who bets small knows his onions like to follow him in and bet bigger stakes.