Tony Bloom

[FKalinx]

I just read this article about Tony Bloom http://www.insidepokermag.co.uk/football/features/90/the_players.html

He strikes me as a very intelligent and entrepreneurial man - realising a gap in the market for football betting with the asian handicap. So he is not just a gambler but an entrepreneur which definitely gives me more faith in his financial status!

Has anyone met this legend that is supposedly bankrolling our club? If so, what is he like? And is it true that he is the man who invests the most?

Thanks!

 

[DIFFBROOK]

Dont suppose somebody could cut and patse this article? My Dept netiquette wont let me access the web site

 

[8ace]

The Players
Tony Bloom
A hugely successful pro gambler turned bookie, Tony Bloom is turning the UK into a nation of Asian handicap punters
By James Eastham

June 2005

Look back through history and you'll see a minority of small men who have bestridden the world of sport like giants. In the 1990s, Prince Naseem Hamed briefly flourished as, pound-for-pound, the most entertaining boxer in the world. In the 1980s, Diego Maradona delighted football fans and sellers of hard drugs in equal amounts, and became one of the most recognizable faces on the planet. In the 1950s and 60s, Willy 'The Shoe' Shoemaker rode a record 8,833 winners despite a stature of 4ft 11in which, even by jockey's standards, was titchy.

When Tony Bloom bustles into an Italian caf? on Piccadilly, it strikes me I may be witnessing the entrance of the first small man who will rule the world of sports betting. Bloom, chief executive and founder of premierbet.com, stands no more than five and a half feet tall - but there is no disguising the size of his ambition.

Once a professional gambler, nowadays a big hitter who has switched sides, he is an increasingly well-known name in the sports betting industry and an internationally renowned poker player (with the Australasian Championship trophy already tucked away in the cabinet for 2004). Bloom is what you might call a one-man gambling success story. Since launching Premierbet on the eve of the football World Cup finals in May 2002, his stock has kept rising.

'I've been a football fan and a gambler since the age of about seven or eight,' he tells InsideEdge. 'My interest in both developed at the same time. As a young boy my introduction to gambling was fruit machines, and obviously I didn't have much money to gamble then, though I did lose pocket money now and again. But that just fired my interest.

'When the time came to make a living, I became a professional gambler. I have to say, it wasn't always easy. It can be tough when you're young; you're relying on gambling for your income and it's all quite new to you.

'For sure there were times, particularly in the early days, when I had some bad runs and lost a decent part of my capital. In those days my money management wasn't quite what it is today, but again, that's a lot to do with experience.' But Bloom wasn't that bad. In fact, he was so good that he made a decent living from it, beating the bookies by betting on all sports, particularly football, using his knowledge, research and contacts.

Victor Chandler eventually gave him a call. 'He asked me if I wanted to move out to Bangkok and start working for him on the Asian handicap markets.'

Did you have an account with him at that point? 'Yes,' he smiles, 'and yes, I did beat him.

'I agreed to give it a go. The way I saw it, I had nothing to lose. It was an opportunity to look at the betting industry from the other side. If things worked out, I thought it would be great. If not, I would have come straight back. I was working abroad for the first time in my life and it was a real eye-opener. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.'

Bloom is perhaps the ultimate gambling example of poacher-turned-gamekeeper. Having beaten the bookies for years, he jumped the fence, helped boost Victor Chandler's football division and enhanced his own reputation as a serious player in the process. But, given that he is a man who has spent his life backing his judgement, it was no surprise when Bloom decided it was time to work for himself again. Two years ago he launched Premierbet. He hasn't looked back since.

'Working for a big company can limit you a bit, and I knew what I wanted to do,' Bloom says. 'I had a good feeling I knew what punters wanted and I wanted to put it into practice.

'The idea behind Premierbet was to concentrate solely on football, covering numerous different leagues and different events. There was a football boom going on when we launched Premierbet and the internet boom is still going on, so more and more people are going to be gambling online.'

Another innovation - and arguably Bloom's biggest gamble of all - was to specialise in Asian handicap betting. Asian handicap's name derives from its popularity in the Far East. It's a type of betting that involves adding a handicap to even up the chances, while the draw is removed. In other words, the favourites have to overcome a goals deficit, while the other team has a head start. For example, if Arsenal were playing Leicester City, the prices may be quoted as Arsenal - 1.5, Leicester City +1.5 - Arsenal have to overcome a 1.5-goal disadvantage for a punter to win money on them.

So far, it looks like Bloom's made another good call. Premierbet has 12,000 registered users and more than half of their regulars bet using Asian handicaps. Bloom believes the style will become increasingly popular over the next few years.

'When we started, hardly anyone in the UK knew about Asian handicap,' he muses, 'but we're taking it more into the mainstream. It's not as complicated as punters think. I'm from a punting background, and I certainly believe it gives the punter a much better chance of winning.

'When people realise Asian handicap is the best form of football betting, it will become a lot more popular. In Asia, that's all they bet on. Taxi drivers, window cleaners, shopkeepers - they all bet on Asian handicaps. I'm not saying fixed odds will go, absolutely not. But it's all about education and confidence and the more people learn about Asian handicap, the more they will use it.'

These days, with so much of his time devoted to betting, Bloom gets little time to enjoy football as a normal fan. He admits: 'Football supporters usually either follow a team or watch a game on television looking for entertainment. Both those sets of people aren't going to be watching the game in the same way I, or other gamblers, are going to, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. There are always betting positions on, there are always teams I favour.
Part-time poker player, full-time winner

'I was away in South America earlier this year and watched some games out there without any betting interest at all. Yes, it was enjoyable as well - it's good to get a different perspective occasionally - but it doesn't happen often.'

For fun, he focuses instead on his other major passion - poker. In his spare time, Bloom is one of the UK's leading players. Known on the poker circuit as 'The Lizard', he plays seriously and clinched a major victory in January when he won the 2004 Australasian Poker Championship in Melbourne, collecting a first prize of £180,000.

'The Melbourne win was definitely my biggest and most rewarding,' he says. 'Poker for me is just a pastime but when I play, I play seriously. In the last six months I've hardly had time to play more than a handful of tournaments. It means I lack a certain sharpness, but you can get that back quite quickly. I come into tournaments fresh; I come in invigorated, full of enthusiasm.

'Obviously the professionals who are playing all the time, they know the players, they see more situations and they have that edge over me. But I wouldn't like to be playing every day, it becomes a grind. The freshness and the fact I'm not playing all the time gives me an edge as well.'

Does poker help with football betting, and vice versa? 'Not really. The only major similarity is that you're gambling money and taking risks. I wouldn't say the skills sets help each other - most of the top poker players I play with are not good sports betters, and most of the sports betters I know don't really play poker.

'For me, one is a hobby, the other is work. Poker is a hobby, and winning a big tournament like I did in Australia is a big thrill. Everything to do with Premierbet and football betting is a job. The more you do something, the more it becomes a job and the less you get a buzz out of it. So my buzz comes from poker, but if I played it professionally and gambled occasionally on football, it would be the other way round.'

Bloom is certainly showing no signs of losing the buzz at the moment. He is off to Las Vegas in April and May to play at the World Series Of Poker - 'I wouldn't say I'll win but I'm always confident about my chances' - and business at premierbet.com is, well, blooming. No wonder he is upbeat about the future.

'It is a great time to be involved in gambling. When I was younger, I found gambling tough at times, but these days, nothing fazes me, nothing bothers me. If Premierbet has a bad day, or if I lose a lot of money with my own bets, it's no problem at all.

'In this game, the difference between the winners and the losers is how one reacts in the face of adversity. Tomorrow is another day, with more action and more football. To be successful, you have to be mentally tough and be able to take the bad with the good.'

For Tony Bloom right now, there's no doubt about it - the good outweighs the bad.

 

[Poyningsgull]

Dont suppose somebody could cut and patse this article? My Dept netiquette wont let me access the web site

Ditto

 

[Tricky Dicky]

That's height-ist - at least I could look him in the eyes !

 

[Arthur]

Premierbets fortunes have taken a slight turn for the worse since that article was written.

 

[8ace]

Binfest

 

[Rookie]

Binfest

cor London Irish at his best I wish he was still on here!

 

[portlock seagull]

Yes, East London Seagull meet him in the run up to the Hereford game in '97; he'd got his hands, via his dad's previlaged position, on a number of tickets which were like gold dust. He invited bids for several hundred pounds from those poor fans who weren't lucky to get one at face value from the club.

Whether that tells you he's an entrepreneur or a wanker is entirely your own decision. But I bet ,over time, it's changed!

 

[Betfair Bozo]

Arthur, Premierbet went downhill (and then out of business) AFTER TB sold the company.

 

[blue and white army]

I love his boat, tells a million stories.

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Yes, East London Seagull meet him in the run up to the Hereford game in '97; he'd got his hands, via his dad's previlaged position, on a number of tickets which were like gold dust. He invited bids for several hundred pounds from those poor fans who weren't lucky to get one at face value from the club.

Whether that tells you he's an entrepreneur or a wanker is entirely your own decision. But I bet ,over time, it's changed!

Not quite several hundreds of pounds, Portlock, but £50-a-pop, when their face value was about a tenth of that, I think. He had LOTS of them.

I bought a few, 'cos I was desperate to go, and many people have subsequently said they think he did no wrong. But it always left a bitter taste in my mouth, the fact that he was making a huge profit out of the club's potential demise. Unless, of course he bought them off his old man for £50.

So, no, i wouldn't really trust him, to be honest.

.

 

[Easy 10]

Interesting article.
Surprised the Albion didn't get a SINGLE mention though.

 

[Wilka]

Not quite several hundreds of pounds, Portlock, but £50-a-pop, when their face value was about a tenth of that, I think. He had LOTS of them.

I bought a few, 'cos I was desperate to go, and many people have subsequently said they think he did no wrong. But it always left a bitter taste in my mouth, the fact that he was making a huge profit out of the club's potential demise. Unless, of course he bought them off his old man for £50.

So, no, i wouldn't really trust him, to be honest.

.

Just think of that £50 as an investment in say Glenn Murry or Jim McNulty!

 

[Whitterz]

He's a gambler. No one should trust gamblers.

 

[element]

So did he sell off premierbet.com for a fortune, which he is reputedly now going to invest in BHA?

 

[Robot Chicken]

Met him before the Huddersfield away game and shook his hand. Nice guy, got annoyed after the game when we only only drew.

 

[Husty]

Wierd, i always had him down as some fat 60 year old, having never seen a photo of him, i dont really want him solely funding the club though, what happens when things stop going his way? Hopefully he can set up another good online business for some stable cash.

 

[Wozza]

Interesting article.
Surprised the Albion didn't get a SINGLE mention though.

Article is from June 2005 though.

 

[saafend_seagull]

i think he should stake me at poker imo