[Help] Gambling: The Unique Addiction?

Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊



Moshe Gariani

Well-known member
Mar 10, 2005
12,199
I’m not understanding the mentality a punter has lost let’s say £300 in the machine what is registering with the punter it’s suddenly going to pay out with the next £300. You are better off walking into a casino and dropping £300 on black or red at least you have a near 47% chance of winning.
I knew when I was about 10 years old that machines are always due to pay out. Even more so when they've just taken a load of yours or somebody else's money...
 




Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
20,677
Born In Shoreham
I knew when I was about 10 years old that machines are always due to pay out. Even more so when they've just taken a load of yours or somebody else's money...
Is this one of those great gambling myths because someone won once when the previous player lost a few quid. It has to pay out a percentage because it’s the law and if punters saw no one win no one would play the game.
I said in a previous post I gamble but don’t like mixing with other punters mainly because of the bullshit theories and stories of big wins. You never hear about the losses mind.
 


The Andy Naylor Fan Club

Well-known member
Aug 31, 2012
5,160
Right Here, Right Now
The industry is in a bit of a mess as a result and the greed of the FOBT era is to blame.
Don't you believe that. The industry claimed the apocalypse was coming when the government announced the reduction to a £2 max stake. The high stakes customers have reduced in number but the business levels have not dropped as they feared. Profits are the same if not better than before the stake reduction. The main plus side for me is that with the higher stakes punters going, the anti social behaviour has dropped at least 90% in my shop. Fwiw, FOBT's are the biggest pain in my arse and the game as a whole has changed for the worse since I first worked in a bookies in the late 80's.
 
Last edited:


Official Old Man

Uckfield Seagull
Aug 27, 2011
9,101
Brighton
I've never placed a bet in my life. But I've come very close. Bet365 and all those other betting companies that flood my screen 24 hours a day whenever there is a sporting event on seem so tempting and all those blokes in the bar having fun whilst placing bets, what fun again. I'm missing out somehow and need to join them and have fun. Once I even downloaded an app but it was so complicated I scrubbed it. Away games have a betting shop in the ground with ' Bet £20 win £100' It looks so easy. But my will power, plus having no idea how to place a bet, keeps me from losing my money.
I feel for anyone who gets dragged into the gutter through greedy betting companies who have ways to take your money.
 


BadFish

Huge Member
Oct 19, 2003
18,201
Banning betting affiliate marketing would go a long way I think. Along with loan affiliate marketing, it is by far the most profitable on the web.

If I run a football site and I have bet365 or some other betting company as affiliates and you click the link and register... I get 10-20% of everything you lose - for life. This is the main reason you'll find betting ads everywhere online.
That seems like a lot of money. Are you sure about this?
 




Peacehaven Wild Kids

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2022
3,394
The Avenue then Maloncho
I’m not understanding the mentality a punter has lost let’s say £300 in the machine what is registering with the punter it’s suddenly going to pay out with the next £300. You are better off walking into a casino and dropping £300 on black or red at least you have a near 47% chance of winning.
Mathematics and logic at no point enter in to it. There is no way on earth a punter could do one spin and walk away. If they lost they’d walk away and search for more, if they won that £600 would now become more stake money, for “one more spin” as sure as night becomes day that punter is going home potless
 




BadFish

Huge Member
Oct 19, 2003
18,201
Bet365 offer 30% commission for life, that’s how sure they are the punters won’t win.
30% commission on losing bets. A fair chunk of money still.

"Commissions with the Bet365 affiliate program are fixed at 30% net profit. Basically, any customers that you attract to Bet365 need to have losing bets for you to earn commissions. With the Bet365 you can promote the sportsbook, the online casino and the poker"

 




El Presidente

The ONLY Gay in Brighton
Helpful Moderator
Jul 5, 2003
40,008
Pattknull med Haksprut
It’s not just websites that benefit from affiliate arrangements and a percentage of punter losses. EFL clubs do the same, despite a scheme with SkyBet being abandoned three years ago due to ’legacy’ arrangements.


Rick Parry of the EFL is always keen to defend the gambling industry too.

 


Iggle Piggle

Well-known member
Sep 3, 2010
5,956
Don't you believe that. The industry claimed the apocalypse was coming when the government announced the reduction to a £2 max stake. The high stakes customers have reduced in number but the business levels have not dropped as they feared. Profits are the same if not better than before the stake reduction. The main plus side for me is that with the higher stakes punters going, the anti social behaviour has dropped at least 90% in my shop. Fwiw, FOBT's are the biggest pain in my arse and the game as a whole has changed for the worse since I first worked in a bookies in the late 80's.

Just to clarify my point, this was more to do with the incoming- and forever delayed- affordability checks, ID checks and the regulatory clampdown which was primarily caused by taking the piss with the machines.

I agree that shops are a much much better place to be now as a result. Ironically, a lot of the sharp punters are in the shops now as its about the best place to get a bet on (and then move to the next one) acting like normal punters.Give me that over a shop containing drug dealers cleaning their cash and an angry Eastern European beating up the FOBT any day.
 


Papak

Not an NSC licker...
Jul 11, 2003
2,278
Horsham
Is this one of those great gambling myths because someone won once when the previous player lost a few quid
No it is true, I have seen the owner of an establishment jump on at the "right" time and win the jackpot within a few spins many, many times. Not guranteed but when you are handing out change and cashing cheques for the money to go straight in the machine you start to spot patterns.

As you can see from the word cheque this was a long while ago so no idea if it is true today on modern machines.
 






BadFish

Huge Member
Oct 19, 2003
18,201
Yup. Some give even more. Bet365 gives a 30% lifetime commission on all the profits you earn from the customers you recruit.
Incredible, they certainly have a strangle hold in the market.
 


Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
20,677
Born In Shoreham
Mathematics and logic at no point enter in to it. There is no way on earth a punter could do one spin and walk away. If they lost they’d walk away and search for more, if they won that £600 would now become more stake money, for “one more spin” as sure as night becomes day that punter is going home potless
I worked with a guy who went £2k up on the bookie machines he said he rang his girlfriend and said he would take her on a lovely holiday. You know what happens next every last note went back into the machine, I think she dumped him not long after that.
If the idea of gambling is to make money then walk away when you have made money otherwise there is no point to it.
 




amexer

Well-known member
Aug 8, 2011
6,838
When i met my wife I was in habit of going to casino once a week with mates. Started taking her. She would moan at me and tell me to stop when losing and when I was winning by any amount said I should stop. She taught me something because have not been to a casino since.
 






Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
20,677
Born In Shoreham
When i met my wife I was in habit of going to casino once a week with mates. Started taking her. She would moan at me and tell me to stop when losing and when I was winning by any amount said I should stop. She taught me something because have not been to a casino since.
She stopped you having your weekly lads night out more like 🙄😀 If you can afford to lose £100 or whatever it might be and you have a bit of fun what’s the issue? My other half sits in the bar and reads her book and I get on with the work, every £100 chip won I give it to her to hold onto to avoid temptation. We then split the winnings if we win we may go for a nice meal or stay in a hotel or both.
 




Bryanw42

Active member
Nov 8, 2021
112
Epsom
Betting advertising should be given the same treatment as Cigarettes. Remove all Gambling branding / logos on any media outlets particularly sports. I used to gamble very occasionally as a way of entertainment, £2 on Zamora to score the first goal type of bet, but having seen a friend get himself £50K in debt, I have changed my view. I now cannot stand betting sites being promoted at Football, either on shirts or during commercial breaks at half time. Elite sports should not be promoting gambling as fun past time to kids.
Bang on. I had a terrible gambling problem until my kids arrived and the weight of responsibility had an effect and since then I've done very well to knock it on the head. The last thing I want is for them to have the same struggle so I detest gambling adverts and especially those around football which obviously has a massive audience of kids and normalises it.

I go to the Derby every year because I live a short walk from epsom downs racecourse but I'm fine now to a few bets that day once a year (I realise this would not work for most). I was lucky that once I finally broke the cycle of betting/winning/losing and chasing lossess daily, the appeal has gradually worn off but my debts were once significant.
To be honest, watching Brighton gives me the same intense highs and lows and tension that having a large chunk on a nag once did. I certainly wouldn't bet on a match. It's intense enough already.
 


Insel affe

HellBilly
Feb 23, 2009
24,337
Brighton factually.....
Mathematics and logic at no point enter in to it. There is no way on earth a punter could do one spin and walk away. If they lost they’d walk away and search for more, if they won that £600 would now become more stake money, for “one more spin” as sure as night becomes day that punter is going home potless
Ain't this the truth, there is another old thread about this where I open up more about it all.
Briefly FOBT's were my vice, I could actually walk out with a big win, but I would be back a few days later, thinking I was on a roll, you know the story.
I lost a lot of money, at the time I could afford too, along come a kid and things had to change, I went to GA in London briefly and some of the stories, you think feck me, that is low, feck me, I was never that desperate, but I knew I was on that path....
Why do it some ask, because I hate to lose, and thought the next spin, the next spin....

I have not used a FOBT's machine since 2009, I started going back to the bookies about 5 years ago to place a bet on the big flat meeting in the summer (can't stand the idea of a winner falling at the last fence) or a few bets at the start of the season £7.50e/w patent on three divisions this year or big tournament, winner, top goal scorer etc, but I make sure I pick out what I want at home, draw the money out and leave my card at home, go into the bookies, place a bet and walk out, all because I still do not trust myself.
I know if i lost some money, on such a stupid machine again, I think it is unfair, and I will want it back..
Stupid I know...

Now I have the odd bet on horses or football and when they lose, I think fair enough, I picked that/them and it was my mistake or things just did not fall right, the logic is stupid, but it is my logic and I have an addictive, broken mentality anyway.

I would love it if bookmakers were banned from the high street, because online is somewhere I would never go.

The online banking option to block betting shops and apps is a great idea and helped with my card.
I do not do credit, I have a healthy bank balance now and when I think back how much I lost whilst earning cash most of the time I was probably on average chucking £300 of the £450 a day I was on down the drain for a year or two.

As a side note, I have noticed on some app games even like Kingdom or football games, they have little in game, games that sort of get you to pretend gamble with whatever you need to make your army bigger or get a better player, they seem to be designed to get young kids into already be excited and normalising gambling, this is very worrying for the future generations.


Respect for everyone who is recovering from this

Unique Addiction​

 


Albion and Premier League latest from Sky Sports


Top