Are the high street bookies dying a slow and painful death?
Is online the only place to be?
Do the betting shop characters still exist or are they a dying breed never to be replaced?
Are betting shops now purely catering for the mug punters and the fixed-odds betting terminal junkies?
Hell, does anyone actual go to the betting shops these days?!?
Well tomorrow I'm going to 'investigate' and find out!
To be honest I can't remember the last time I placed a bet in a betting shop. Sure I've nipped in to watch a race when I've been away (dragged shopping!) from NTF HQ, but actually hand over money to strike a serious wager? No idea!
When I first got into racing/betting I was never out of my local betting shops. My first job when I left school (and before I went on to study Graphic Design) was as a baker and every lunchtime would be spent in the nearest bookies. Sure I made some money, landed a few lumpy bets, but I wasn't really turning a profit overall. Then I found the world of online betting. What an eye-opener! I had a plethora of racing trends and stats at my disposal, and a multitude of information that I had never even contemplated before! Information that simply was not available to me in my local betting shop! What's more I didn't even have to leave home to place my bets! I had my choice of where to place my bets and I didn't have to deal with any grumpy staff!! Add into this the exchanges (which opened up another whole world of possibilities to me!!) and it was bye bye to the betting shops for me.
But I do have a soft spot for the bookies. I spent a lot of my youth in them. I used to love watching the old geezers throwing a tantrum because "that b@stard jockey doesn't know his @rse from his t!t" or showing off their winning betting slip shouting "I knew that f@cker was going to win, Big Davie told me last night when we were out catching rabbits!!".
I want to see if there is still a call for the high street betting shops. Are they really heading down the crapper with only the FOBT's attracting the customers?
So tomorrow I'm braving the area of Kirkcaldy that Mrs NTF and I have nicknamed **********! The area is actually called ********** but if I were to describe it as one of the least desirable areas in Kirkcaldy I would be being kind!!
The reason I'm heading there is because within 50 yards of each other are a WILLIAM HILL, LADBROKES and a CORAL betting shop. I'm going to spend an entire afternoon moving between the three to see exactly what life is like in our high street betting shops in 2011.
I will be TWEETING live from each shop with regular updates throughout the day hopefully regaling tales of local characters, friendly staff and a plethora of punters streaming through the doors!
To keep myself interested I will also be setting myself a challenge.
I'm going to try and survive on my racing wits and the information available in the shops to try and turn a profit on the day from a £10 bank!
I have not looked at tomorrow's cards and I don't intend to until I enter my first shop at 12pm tomorrow lunchtime. Is there enough information in-shop for me to turn a profit from my tenner or will I be relying on 'Big Davie' or 'Smelly Jim' to dig me out of a punting hole with their tips as the day passes!!
Obviously this experiment could fall flat on its face. If there are no punters in the shops then it's going to be a bloody boring day, even with my £10 challenge running along in the background!
As I said I'll be tweeting live (how exciting!!) throughout the day so if you don't already follow me on Twitter then you better do so now -
Twitter name - @Narrowthefield
Let's see what tomorrow brings......
Ben (NTF)
10 comments:
If you're going to set yourself a challenge then you must have rules. What is your minimum and maximum bet? How many bets will you be having? Just horses, or are dogs in the equation too? And while you're there, can you fathom out what the computer racing is all about? Cheers.
Bets only on the gee gees (except for desperate measures!)
Only singles, no multiples.
I will try and get a regular to give me inside info on the computer racing!!
I went into a big Ladbrokes, centre of Blackpool last Saturday. As shop I remember in my youth was the proverbial gold mine...packed full of all your usual characters.
Dead set there were 3 immigrants in there all playing FOBTs.
I asked the spotty kid behind the counter for 300 on a rugby bet at 15/8. Was told he would have to ring and check because he already knew I'd had the same bet in 2 other shops. His trading dept let me have 50 quid.
I asked how much I was allowed to put into the FOBT before I was stopped. He said as much as I wanted.
Game on it's arse.....
FOBT's- Satan's machines!
The need to have the odd sports betting shop WITHOUT any machines.
Will be keeping a close watch on this experiment then Ben, sounds interesting, especially if you do manage to turn a profit. I think you especially may be at a disadvantage nowadays with the info your used to being able to have at your fingertips, but I'm sure memory and knowledge built up may help combat this, and hey if you do find Big Davie how can you lose lol.
Regards
Dave
@Anonymous
Sadly that's the way the bookies are now. The worst I have experienced is a 3/1 shot in Jennings, where they allowed me £25!
And I have that employees in bookieshops (particularly ladbrokes for some reason) think they are fucking detectives and call every shop in a 10 mile radius to say what bets you put on.
Sigh, life is tough.
Ha-ha, these tales don't half ring true, i spent most of my youth in Bookies, loved it, like you say all the characters that frequented we're second to none, went into a Bet Fred on Hennessey day (as I was working in town)tried to get £50 on Diamond Harry @ 6/1....no f...ing chance, £20 was all I was allowed, it really is a disgrace.
Cheers for all the comments guys.
Was an eye-opening day yesterday with the FOBT's being the general talk amongst punters instaed of the racing!!
Changing days.....
He he - great post! I wonder the same thing every time I walk past the betting shops in my town. They're all on the same street - within a few doors of each other - and are usually only sparesly populated with old blokes hunched over in their seats.
It's an 'older generation' thing now I fear. I don't know anyone my age (30s) that has claimed to have set foot in one, and in all the years I worked in industry I only ever knew of one person who "did the horses".
Hi Ben.
Quite a challenge, but the bookies have always and still are that way. Living on the outskirts of my local town (about couple of miles away). The is Totesport (not as busy as it used to be. Then in the town centre the is Ladbrokes, William Hill, Corals all have multiple shops within walking distance of each other, Betfred, Paddy Power (just opened roughly a year ago) and 1 or 2 independants.
The roulette wheels are always busy by people who seems too young to bet, with their mates watching. Also I don't know if its just me but the level of the noise from people's chatter seems to rise when I am watching a race.
Most bookies have a copy of the Racing Post behind the counter, unless someone taken it out and reading it. Then if you found your racing paper, the pens never work. I suggest a visit to a shop who sells pens before visiting your bookies.
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