Before the internet… Then after.

[Triptych]

Great stories Raymo, you’re a bit of a dark horse yourself can just picture yourself and Naus over a few pints at Cheltenham taking stock of the movers and shakers,you two should write a book together ❤❤ perhaps call it
The Sting in the Tail

Being competitive horse racing is my one and only love, I don’t follow newspaper tipsters and really only bet horses I have seen in the flesh or on TV following them on through the season, it’s amazing how much info you get from seeing your horses in the pre parade (watching body language of the owners, trainers and jockeys also a plus ). Loving horses I do get a bit sentimental about certain horses which can sometimes cost me but I won’t change and I’m enjoying myself and getting some fresh air into the bargain.

PS…I’m with Mrs Raymo all the way being suspicious of the computer based games, so easily fixed as our Naus pointed out with the Poker. Also gave up on playing The Lottery after about 6 months, total waste of money and drawn by Computers!!!

Keep them coming Naus and Raymo. Jac

Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...

[Nausered]

Brilliant Raymo. She is certainly earning some money now. As a company, bet365 are by far the best IMO mate. They do have a pair of kahoonas compared to the rest, and will take a bet on horses. It winds me up immensely those companies, who chose to go another way. It’s like they had already decided, that computers, and not sports were the way forwards. So screw the punters who had kept them going for donkeys years. Why did they need us anymore, they had new much sillier mugs. Mugs who would lose their wages on the computer programmes. Why take a decent bet from some one with a silly over round on a sports event? When a computerised result, can sort it all out for you, much quicker, with no chance of losing either? It’s like the golden ticket for Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. The bookies would have been wetting themselves with joy. Betting shops had died anyway, the internet saw to that. The exchanges had came and took their share. Yet, the poorer high streets filled up with new betting shops, just to wedge four machines per shop in, and they made a killing. The bookies had to adapt, and they did. Bet365 went about it in a different way, she’s very clever. They stuck just too online, and big bonuses. I will bet, that they are making an absolute killing from the online FOBT’s, or computer programmes as they actually are. FOBT’s. Even their name is a con.

[raymo61]

Very true about the name being a con as well Naus. And IMO FOBT’s as they are called are far easier to administer than actually taking decent bets and making decisions LOL . Someone famously said years ago that betting shops were a licence to print money well it is isn’t the actual shop now it is just the FOBT’s !!

Anyway we can rant and rave all we like but it aint gonna change now and all this stuff about betting shop manager of the year awards etc. is a load of old b!***it if you ask me. I bet half of them can’t actually settle a decent bet or run one up and know what the liability is after three of them have won in a yankee!!

Taking of which here is another quick story for you and Jac and Joe and anyone else who cares to read it.. ( And Jac me dark horse ?? nooooooooooooo I am an open book me!! Wouldn’t dare be a dark horse with my missus LOL )

A supposed mug punter in the nineties (again) had a £10 yankee with us and the first three all won and he had a big lump running onto a horse that was owned by a syndicate called Gymcrak Thoroughbreds and the horse was 25/1 I think. Obviously because of the lump we sent it down to the course and smashed up the price to save us a right few quid.
It duly won at about six or seven to one I can’t remember the exact price. Next day in the Sporting Life there were letters of complaint about this horse being a gamble and all the syndicate members being told it needed the run or some such guff!! The head of the syndicate who was a bloke like Harry Herbert is nowadays ( I think his name might have been Holmes, not Sherlock though) was in a right strop and our boss got in touch with him and explained what had happened and I think even contacted the SL to let them know what had occurred!! It was a bit of a minor scandal at the time until it was all cleared up but we thought it was funny!! LOL

[Nathan Hughes]

Great stuff Raymo61
All the bookies facing a last leg hit or any big hit will lay it off right.?
Makes me giggle how they don’t like it these days that the punter betting with them and laying off with Betfair for a profit as if they are criminals. The standards and double times a lot more lol

Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026

[BigG]

I’ve just caught up with this thread Raymo and your compilation of tales, absolutely priceless stuff mate,
I couldn’t help grinning ear to ear reading it

[MarkTT]

Indeed – thanks for the tales of yore !

[raymo61]

LOL Thanks Mark but it does make me feel old compared to some or most of you on here!!
And thanks G see I do have one or two interesting things to say LOL ( I know my golf isn’t one of them )

[raymo61]

Oh yes here is a quick one for you guys ( I thought I better think of something good after that tirade on the other thread)

Miss World ( I know it isn’t racing but it was profitable)

Once again in the late eighties they used to bet on Miss World and our boss got to know a man that was employed as a hairdresser !! Said hairdresser was employed by the Morley organisation to do the hair of the contestants and on the Friday he was always booked to do the hair of seven particular contestants.
It turned out that these seven were the finalists !! So Friday night our boss would get a call and be told who the final seven were!!
Then the fun began because we used to get in early that Saturday and proceed to back all seven with different bookies and throw in a couple that we knew were definite losers too!!
Obviously we won every year but not with every bookie which in itself was a good thing because that allowed us to get on the following year !! We had a file which kept records of who we had bet who with and never had any trouble getting on because we made sure that the year after we had backed the winner we backed some losers with those bookies .
It was never huge amounts of money but it always paid for our Christmas bonuses and a bit extra too!!

[Author]

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