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Some members will be familiar with the loyalty card on offer with one of the big bookies, whereby when, for example, you’ve staked a total of £2,000 you get a free £20 bet. I reluctantly signed up to one of these but over time became increasingly fed up with not only the concept but also the practicalities. To begin with, I found the constant dialogue:-
"Have you got your card with you?"
"No, I’ve left it at home"
"Oh you’re very naughty, aren’t you?"
After a while of this scolded schoolboy vs. teacher roleplay, it was decided to keep my card behind the counter. However, apparently I was not the only naughty schoolboy as, fairly soon after, it was then a case of staff having to rummage through a dozen cards before finding mine. Now this is fine if you like to gently saunter to the counter ten minutes before the race but as a lot of members will probably relate to, some of us prefer to wait until just before the ‘off’. It’s at this point, if you happen to be behind another card holder, that the stress levels increase as staff shout to each other, "Have you got so and so’s card?" Numerous times this led me to walking away without placing my bet, knowing that I’d missed the ‘off’.
Some here might say, "Well, put your bet on earlier" but why should I allow myself to be manipulated away from my normal betting routine?
Then, we come to the moment you’re told "Do you know you’ve now got a free £20 bet?" Luvly jubbly, except it then hits home how much I’ve squandered over the weeks. It’s the old pain/pleasure syndrome. Then the resentment kicks in. I begin to despise being socially engineered to feel that I owe some loyalty to this organisation. It’s the same with store loyalty cards. I refuse to have them, simply because on any given day I don’t want to feel I’m duty bound to give them my custom. I’m a free agent and prefer it that way. If I want to spend my money in your shop I will; but let’s not kid ourselves that we have a relationship, a bond of friendship. It’s just a cold, clinical arrangement. Me versus you. Let’s leave it that way. Forget the loyalty. Forget the bonuses.
- Total Posts 17716
Some members will be familiar with the loyalty card on offer with one of the big bookies, whereby when, for example, you’ve staked a total of £2,000 you get a free £20 bet. I reluctantly signed up to one of these but over time became increasingly fed up with not only the concept but also the practicalities. To begin with, I found the constant dialogue:-
"Have you got your card with you?"
"No, I’ve left it at home"
"Oh you’re very naughty, aren’t you?"
After a while of this scolded schoolboy vs. teacher roleplay, it was decided to keep my card behind the counter. However, apparently I was not the only naughty schoolboy as, fairly soon after, it was then a case of staff having to rummage through a dozen cards before finding mine. Now this is fine if you like to gently saunter to the counter ten minutes before the race but as a lot of members will probably relate to, some of us prefer to wait until just before the ‘off’. It’s at this point, if you happen to be behind another card holder, that the stress levels increase as staff shout to each other, "Have you got so and so’s card?" Numerous times this led me to walking away without placing my bet, knowing that I’d missed the ‘off’.
Some here might say, "Well, put your bet on earlier" but why should I allow myself to be manipulated away from my normal betting routine?
Then, we come to the moment you’re told "Do you know you’ve now got a free £20 bet?" Luvly jubbly, except it then hits home how much I’ve squandered over the weeks. It’s the old pain/pleasure syndrome. Then the resentment kicks in. I begin to despise being socially engineered to feel that I owe some loyalty to this organisation. It’s the same with store loyalty cards. I refuse to have them, simply because on any given day I don’t want to feel I’m duty bound to give them my custom. I’m a free agent and prefer it that way. If I want to spend my money in your shop I will; but let’s not kid ourselves that we have a relationship, a bond of friendship. It’s just a cold, clinical arrangement. Me versus you. Let’s leave it that way. Forget the loyalty. Forget the bonuses.Ken
‘Loyalty’ cards aren’t designed for customer benefit.
Tesco use them for customer demographics, to see what you spend your money on, and how often.
Ladbrokes, no doubt, use them to see who’s taking their money.
Burn it, and let them keep guessing
.Win consistently off the bookmakers and see how much your loyalty means to them then.
Ken , do youself a favour and give the bookies the heave ho and if you have the balls after 3 months you will have saved enough for a proper betting bank , where you can then play with the exchanges
Bookies is like roulette you have very little chance of wining and if you do manage it you will be barred in a very short time
Sort it out Ken , you seem like a good bloke to me
have fun
Ricky
Well, thanks for the advice guys, but I do recall asking staff if their data base could analyse what I was betting on (at the time I was having the occassional punt on the "wooden" horses at Lucksin etc.) and the range of prices I was backing. They insisted that the computer would only know my stakes and returns but I have my doubts. I’m sure the photo of bets must tie in with their computer and somewhere along the line some data analyst can see trends and patterns and, particularly with virtual racing they can then manipulate the ebb and flow of winners and losers given what they will have gleaned across the Country.
As for myself, from the New Year I determined not to go in the bookies and just bet horses on the internet. I have found it really helpful in that I no longer bet every day on every race here there and everywhere. I only bet on televised (terrestial or ATR) races. Okay, they’re only small stakes of five pounds to win but an afternoon in the bookies can run into several hundred pounds and since January 1st I’m only £30 down from a turnover of exactly £491.25. And unlike in the bookies when you have to squeeze around half a dozen others studying one form paper, just for a brief glimpse, with the internet you can quickly refer to past form at a click. No longer am i distracted from my concentration by the local nutter suddenly deciding he wants to engage me in conversation about how unlucky he was in 1998 or the angry punter shouting that his dog got beat because the commentator said it was going well.Some members will be familiar with the loyalty card on offer with one of the big bookies, whereby when, for example, you’ve staked a total of £2,000 you get a free £20 bet. I reluctantly signed up to one of these but over time became increasingly fed up with not only the concept but also the practicalities. To begin with, I found the constant dialogue:-
"Have you got your card with you?"
"No, I’ve left it at home"
"Oh you’re very naughty, aren’t you?"I had a chuckle at this Ken. Sounds all too familiar on the few occassions I do pop in the bookies now. Almost all bets are placed via the internet now. Only if I cant get online do I venture in the bookies.
Some members will be familiar with the loyalty card on offer with one of the big bookies, whereby when, for example, you’ve staked a total of £2,000 you get a free £20 bet. I reluctantly signed up to one of these but over time became increasingly fed up with not only the concept but also the practicalities. To begin with, I found the constant dialogue:-
"Have you got your card with you?"
"No, I’ve left it at home"
"Oh you’re very naughty, aren’t you?"I had a chuckle at this Ken. Sounds all too familiar on the few occassions I do pop in the bookies now. Almost all bets are placed via the internet now. Only if I cant get online do I venture in the bookies.
Knowing your stakes and returns is vital to knowing their customer base as Betfair would call it.
If they see you winning 10%+ on your stakes they’ll soon ban you, it’s a quick way to monitor all customers rather than just the "logged clients" all bookmakers have had for the past 20 or so years.
- Total Posts 17716
All the Odds On card does is record information that would otherwise be collected via an internet account – if you get a free bet out of it, or an increase in your winnings, then where’s the harm? It’s not as though shop staff don’t keep track of the winners and losers that roam their premises anyway.
Then again, if you resort to betting on ‘racing’ from Lucksin Downs perhaps an occasional reminder of your spending isn’t a good thing.
- Total Posts 17716
All the Odds On card does is record information that would otherwise be collected via an internet account – if you get a free bet out of it, or an increase in your winnings, then where’s the harm? It’s not as though shop staff don’t keep track of the winners and losers that roam their premises anyway.
Then again, if you resort to betting on ‘racing’ from Lucksin Downs perhaps an occasional reminder of your spending isn’t a good thing.
Not strictly true Equitrack, as the internet account will recognise you (Or the wife, in Carv’s case
) more quickly than any assortment of shop managers – without the loyalty card, of course.Happy Days are here again. Appreciate this should be posted elsewhere on the forum but just want to share my good news. From my post above you’ll see that I was £30 down. Well, today I was a further £10 down but just picked Wonder…. @ Plumpton. Staked £5 and took 50/1 in view of previous heavy ground win. Transferred the £250 back to my bank account. That’s it for a few days now. Time to get some daily chores sorted now.
Cheers guys and dolls.
Ken………or the angry punter shouting that his dog got beat because the commentator said it was going well.
There’s a funny aside to the above. About an hour before getting that winner, I was just coming out of the butcher’s next to the bookies when I bumped into Mr. Shouter having a fag outside the bookies. Not having seen him since last year because I don’t go in there now I asked him how he was doing, in a health context mind you. "Oh not too good" was his reply. Thinking he was poorly, I asked, "Why what’s the problem?". At which point he started to rant and rave, "You wouldn’t believe it, I’ve just backed the favourite in the last race, it was ten lengths clear at the last bend and got done on the line by the outsider. It’s all fiddled." Before bading him farewell, I thought how glad I am that I’ve steered clear of the betting shop and that same old social routine. I really do think that betting via the internet has helped in assisting to exercise a greater degree of control over my betting pattern.
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