pawras
Stallion
ffs can we not do politics here, but if wanna start all that about the nhs look no further than blair as the great instigator and their use of pfi.
So why have we still got bookmakers??????
- Thread starter kenny jones
- Start date
retriever
Stallion
Quite right
Two bits of irony there
pawras but yeah it's a waste of time doing the political thing..Ps When I googled it I found that William ill are wanting to buy into NHS, now that's sick.
mick
Sire
To find a workaround for problem gamblers. !
Rodeneal
Yearling
Hi Kenny,
Long term, I reckon there will only be exchanges, fewer online bookies and, hopefully, a few high street bookie shops. High Street bookies have been slowly but surely closing, especially, when you consider Ladbrokes taking over Coral. In 2016 Ladbrokes had to close or sell 350/400 shops. Then, consider the reduction in the maximum stake for fixed odd betting machines.
Looking carefully, you may notice that Ladbrokes' and Coral's web sites, other than the colour, they are pretty much identical. The odds you can get with the online bookies are pretty much the same. Online bookies have to compete viciously for our business.
The only two advantages of the high street bookie may disappear, due to Covid19, if they stop taking cash. Those two advantages are anonymity and that smug feeling you have when you walk away, with a dirty great wad of cash, when you win big!
Roy
Rodeneal
Yearling
Straw poll people.
I was having a pint yesterday evening and chatting to a couple of mates. (Yes, I do have a few friends) We were trying to work out how far we were from the nearest independent high street bookie.
I live in SW London. One mate said the nearest independent bookie he could think of was in Chester, the other mentioned there was one near Brighton!
How far are you from the nearest independent high street bookie? I believe, the few that are left are the last of a dying breed.
I was having a pint yesterday evening and chatting to a couple of mates. (Yes, I do have a few friends) We were trying to work out how far we were from the nearest independent high street bookie.
I live in SW London. One mate said the nearest independent bookie he could think of was in Chester, the other mentioned there was one near Brighton!
How far are you from the nearest independent high street bookie? I believe, the few that are left are the last of a dying breed.
mick
Sire
I have not been in a betting shop for years so have no idea. Of the better known on line independents Banks and Starsports will take a decent bet but seldom at best prices. I have winning accounts with both although i only tend to use them when topping up on a drifter which prob confirms that i am not an arber and has them in a state of confusion. 
mick
Sire
Many years ago i used a Hove based firm The TBA who where commission agents. Unlike these days they made no charge for this service because the Bookmakers paid them for the business. I know someone who currently works for a London based commission agents and they charge 3% > on stakes to place the cash in the shops. They have owners trainers and some big punters on there books but my mate who follows in with some of his own money reckons an all in annual 6% Roi is doing good. So you could say info worth having but certainly no pot of gold.
cosmicsports
Colt
The bookie is a relic of the past.
It is a British invention.
Back in the 18th-19th century it was the holy inquisition pulling the strings in the continent. If you were a betting man, you were a candidate for the biannual "auto da fe".
But the British in a spirit of ill founded liberalism allowed it.
So how do we make a bet in the 18th century ?
There are no computers to count receipts and divide the money, no compliance authority to supervise things.
But there was the mutual trust. It was a gentlemen's agreement and the bookie was a trusted person. When he said "5 to 2" it was 5 to 2. You won, you collected your money.
So it propagated into the new era.
But all things considered it's not the best system. We have all sorts of problems nowadays.
So I like the Aussies who invented the totalizator machine. All bets should be settled in this way.
It is a British invention.
Back in the 18th-19th century it was the holy inquisition pulling the strings in the continent. If you were a betting man, you were a candidate for the biannual "auto da fe".
But the British in a spirit of ill founded liberalism allowed it.
So how do we make a bet in the 18th century ?
There are no computers to count receipts and divide the money, no compliance authority to supervise things.
But there was the mutual trust. It was a gentlemen's agreement and the bookie was a trusted person. When he said "5 to 2" it was 5 to 2. You won, you collected your money.
So it propagated into the new era.
But all things considered it's not the best system. We have all sorts of problems nowadays.
So I like the Aussies who invented the totalizator machine. All bets should be settled in this way.
cosmicsports
Colt
Does it have to be a monopoly ?
Monopolies are bad.
But also bookies can become monopolies if the government thinks so (e.g. Bulgaria).
cosmicsports
Colt
Well obviously not.
I mean the way the betting site works.
The national legislation to govern these things is another matter.
One I know is pmu.fr but you can't go into the session page - to register you have to be a resident of France.
kenny jones
Filly
To fully understand the position of the bookie you have to do a bit of doublethink,if not treblethink.On the surface the bookie lookes like a mediator between the outcome of a specific event(usually a sports event) and punters who want to bet on the outcome of that event.But organisers of sports event,be it a horse race or a footy match,have in no shape or form any inclination to give the event or its elements any kind of value expressed in terms of percentage odds.Hilariously the bookies do that bit.
The bookies take the event and want other third parties,the punters ,to bet on the outcome of that event.They express the event as percentage odds take it or leave it.So whilst they might appear as middle men(women)they are actually in complete control of their own profit margins,they act as go betweens but at the same time completely control events.Or another way of putting it is that they have their cake and eat it,.or put it yet another way,"they appear to be just a passive instrumental entity whilst in actaulity they completely control the situation"
Kenny
The bookies take the event and want other third parties,the punters ,to bet on the outcome of that event.They express the event as percentage odds take it or leave it.So whilst they might appear as middle men(women)they are actually in complete control of their own profit margins,they act as go betweens but at the same time completely control events.Or another way of putting it is that they have their cake and eat it,.or put it yet another way,"they appear to be just a passive instrumental entity whilst in actaulity they completely control the situation"
Kenny
cosmicsports
Colt
It is more or less so.
But in these days it is possible to design a user-friendly platform doing tote.
And they would n't have to impose limitations. They could if they wanted to, but why ?
kenny jones
Filly
Hi cosmic,
Its the power of the bookmaking lobby,two many people are making money for old rope .I agree with you about the tote.We did have one but the government flogged it off to the privateers.
The sad thing is bookies like banks are viewed as a 'natural' part of our society and culture,when in reality they are just a bunch of crooks.
kenny