Rambling and Gambling

[Quixall Crossett]

There are some cracking races to be viewed on Youtube for anyone who likes that sort of thing. I sat there for at least another hour watching race after race and recalling names like Beuche Girod, Flitgrove, Bachelors Hall, Very Promising, Man Alive etc etc etc.
Obviously looking back at them reminds me what an old twat i am but i'm afraid there is nothing i can do about that.

I was sat flicking over to Oddschecker occasionally in between races and i was watching a plunge on a Charles Byrnes horse taking place during the night. The horse is All Those Years and it was 10's in a lot of places when they all opened up but i watched it gradually go down to a general 6/1 by the time i had called it a night.

And over at Kempton there was also money for Un Beau Roman who was a general 20's chance when opening up although there was some 22's and 25's in one or two places but that is down to mainly 14/1 but as low as 11's and 12's in a few places.

I didnt do either of those races but i will watch closely and see how they run.

[typhoon]

There are some cracking races to be viewed on Youtube for anyone who likes that sort of thing. I sat there for at least another hour watching race after race and recalling names like Beuche Girod, Flitgrove, Bachelors Hall, Very Promising, Man Alive etc etc etc.
Obviously looking back at them reminds me what an old twat i am but i'm afraid there is nothing i can do about that.

I was sat flicking over to Oddschecker occasionally in between races and i was watching a plunge on a Charles Byrnes horse taking place during the night. The horse is All Those Years and it was 10's in a lot of places when they all opened up but i watched it gradually go down to a general 6/1 by the time i had called it a night.

And over at Kempton there was also money for Un Beau Roman who was a general 20's chance when opening up although there was some 22's and 25's in one or two places but that is down to mainly 14/1 but as low as 11's and 12's in a few places.

I didnt do either of those races but i will watch closely and see how they run.

I'm on Un Beau Roman at 16/1, missed the early evening price

[Jombo]

QC your jockey skelton just rode a great race there on boss man fred.

[Quixall Crossett]

Gordon Elliott has turned to the maestro (Sir Micky) to try and get a win out of Caliption who is entered for a couple of races at Wetherby on Saturday. The horse did win a point as a four year old but hasnt won since. He has now switched stables and its just a matter of time before the magician weaves his magic spell.
The horse hasnt run since July of last year but give him a few months and a few runs down the field to get his current mark of 115 down to somewhere in the nineties and then it will be pay day.

[Quixall Crossett]

QC your jockey skelton just rode a great race there on boss man fred.

Ok mate.

[Quixall Crossett]

Kayf Blanco is entered as usual at Wetherby in the 2m 3f chase at 2.15. If he could just cut out the silly little mistakes that spoil his chance time and time again, his course form figures of 231232 would look even better.

I'm giving this meeting a good looking at because, although i said i wouldnt be going racing again until new years day, my sister and her husband have got four complimentaries and are egging us on to go.
I may have to give in

[Quixall Crossett]

Sir Micky has Cornerstone Lad entered in the two mile hurdle although his mark of 142 and top weight of 12-0 will take some overcoming. That said, he has never been out of the first three in eleven starts over hurdles so i wouldnt rule him out.

[Jombo]

What do you make of Davy Russell not riding for gigginstown any more? Madness in my opinion.

[Quixall Crossett]

What do you make of Davy Russell not riding for gigginstown any more? Madness in my opinion.

Its Gigginstown and therefore its O'Leary and therefore anything is possible.

[Quixall Crossett]

I know i frequently have my rants at the "bookmaking" fraternity but rightly so in my eyes. Its a well known fact, more so to the older members on here, that the game is nothing like what it was and is just slowly dying a death.
I called into a "bookmakers" yesterday morning while Mrs Crossett was having a shopathon and sat for half an hour and was kindly given a cup of hot chocolate by the young lady behind the counter. Now i have nothing against her, she is probably a nice woman, but it is a fact that the standard of people working in "betting shops" (?) these days is the lowest i have ever known and can only get worse.
Within two minutes of me getting in there, and this was the very first time i had been in this shop, a bloke came in and asked her how much a 25p 6-4-1 was. She didnt have a clue what he was talking about. He said he always wrote that but couldnt remember the proper name for it. She actually said that she didnt think the firm took that bet until i stepped up and told her it was a yankee. That was problem solved.
But as i sat there looking around the place i just had to shake my head in disbelief. One of the walls was designated for horse racing and i counted that it would take 17 pages. The double page cards for Hereford, Lingfield and Huntingdon were all crammed on one section that took those six pages but no form was showing. Not one single page of form was visible for anyone who might have wanted to see it. But it was the space for the other eleven pages that really annoyed me. They were taken up by Finger Lakes, Mahoning Valley, Zia Park, Turf Paradise, Portman F***ing Park, SteepleF***ing downs, Turrfontein and Chantilly. In other words, far more space was allotted for foreign shite than it was for the proper racing. F***ing virtual racing cards were on the wall !!!!!!!! What the f*** is that all about ???
The poor lass is clueless but i dont blame her. I blame the morons in charge for not hiring people who actually have some idea of what they are doing and also for not training them properly if they have come from a non racing and betting background.
It is obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes and ears that the firm (and the others as well) have absolutely no interest in racing in the shops. And zero interest in promoting it. In the time i was in there all i heard was either bingo numbers every couple of minutes, virtual racing commentaries and adverts for numbers betting. And all around the shop it was the same. Posters for the slots, Irish Lottery, "loyalty cards" (?) and other nonsensical garbage. Not one single mention of the big Cheltenham meeting coming up this Friday, Saturday and Sunday or any mention of the Fighting Fifth or the Hennessey (It will ALWAYS be the Hennessey to me) at the end of the month or the King George next month. Nothing !!!!! Just numbers and slots and virtuals.

I should name and shame them but they are all the same. Completely and utterly useless. I will however give you a clue to their name. It begins with "C" and ends in "orals"

That should keep you guessing for an hour or so

[Quixall Crossett]

Bloody hell, i almost forgot. While i was sat there a bloke come in and was talking to her for five mins or so. She told him that the firm are in the process of doing away with the Racing Post on the wall and they are looking to have it all digital. No more papers on the wall !!!!!
Now for the younger generation that might not seem a big thing but to the older folk, especially those in their seventies and above, that wont go down very well. They like nothing better than scanning the paper while putting their bets on and that is going to be a pain in the arse for them.

[clancy]

Eighty percent of bookmakers revenue is non horseracing and probably heading for a similar figure from online.

Shops provide a bit of a social service for pensioners etc to have a cuppa - Younger people in there are on their phones anyway - I would say the betting terminals in there are taking an increasing chunk of the revenue and only need a kid to empty them once a day - They will eventually be the only way to bet and will probably start appearing in pubs etc - Shops cost money.

[Quixall Crossett]

Eighty percent of bookmakers revenue is non horseracing and probably heading for a similar figure from online.

Shops provide a bit of a social service for pensioners etc to have a cuppa - Younger people in there are on their phones anyway - I would say the betting terminals in there are taking an increasing chunk of the revenue and only need a kid to empty them once a day - They will eventually be the only way to bet and will probably start appearing in pubs etc - Shops cost money.

All fair points and not a lot i can argue with. I will however raise a few points.

a) I would say the betting terminals in there are taking an increasing chunk of the revenue and only need a kid to empty them once a day - The official line from the bookmakers is that the terminals are NOT there to take away the jobs of the staff. If you look at them and read all the info about them, they offer far more markets, and i mean FAR, FAR, more markets on them, than they do on the football coupons for instance. I heard one of the staff one day say that they were offering over 1000 markets on that nights televised game and of course you wouldnt get all those on a coupon. But i have yet to see an elderly person on one !!! I've heard one or two of the older brigade say that they wouldnt know where to start and its ALWAYS the younger ones on them.

b) Younger people in there are on their phones anyway - What i have noticed is that the younger people in betting shops are either on the slots or putting football bets on/picking up coupons. Obviously there are younger ones who bet on the horses but its nearly always the older ones who are backing the horses and the younger generation spending their money on other forms of gambling.

c) Shops provide a bit of a social service for pensioners etc to have a cuppa - I dont know if that is just a dig at me but i am not a pensioner and i can definitely think of many, many far better places to have a social gathering than in a betting shop. Somewhere that did cake and coffee and bacon sarnies would be top of my list. But i totally agree with you that, for many, it is the highlight of their day to go and have a punt but more to the point, have a good old chinwag with friends or anyone that cares to listen.

And finally, d) Shops cost money. - Yes they do and its not cheap. So if i had a business i would be striving each and every day to find ways to increase turnover and therefore, hopefully, increase profitability. I would be pushing each and every product i had, to get it in the customers, or potential customers, faces. And yet the vast majority of firms fail to do this. I've noticed the bland, uninformative and utterly boring windows as i pass and think to myself what a wasted opportunity that is. The vast majority of them, and you will all see this, just have an offer or bonus poster and a correct score advert on a game that day or the next. They never fill their windows with the news upcoming meetings or big races, no mention of golf tournaments, tennis, big fights, Formula 1, Cricket, Rugby, League or Union etc etc. They could cram them with news of events and prices and special bets and it would possibly entice followers of all those sports who may not usually have a bet to maybe go in and have a couple of quid on. Then they've got a new customer and it could spiral from there. The more customers you have, the better it will be for you. If you dont have any customers, you havent got a business !! So you need to do all you can to get them in. And i dont consider walking past a "betting shop" and seeing nothing in a window apart from a poster saying " Scunthorpe to beat Crewe 2-0 pays £90 to be anything else than pure unadulterated shite !!!
That is just lazy, boring, unimaginative and completely useless advertising. It is a total waste of advertising space and lets face it, advertising space is very expensive. And yet these shops have a great opportunity with a big front window with punters and potential punters walking by all the time and they are just throwing that opportunity away.

As i said, all fair points you make but there is a bigger picture which the firms of today cant see purely because they dont have the people working for them who can see it. And thats why i always say that the "bookmaking" firms of today are just a very. very pale and poor shadow of years gone by.

[clancy]

No digs at you QC - Just saying what I see in Dublin.

A typical enough bigger shop might have two or three Jack Russels leashed to the leg of the chair that their old owners are sitting on - drinking the tea / coffee / biscuits etc - Good luck to them.

These lads might very possibly not even cover the cost of the nosh with their bets never mind the other overheads - A few hours watching the racing / football / golf or whatever - Lovely.

The terminals are mainly populated by non-nationals as far as I can see - Zero interest in horseracing but betting on football in Iraq / Egypt / Poland / Romania etc - Come in - Do their bets and leave.

Next time you are in pick up a couple of discarded tickets near the machines and have a look.

But as you mention it - You yourself were a total wast of space to the shop - Using it as a waiting room while Mrs C shopped for the crumpet or whatever - Yeah a nice cuppa and a free read of the Racing Post - A warm chair and then off you go - Not a red cent deposited.

Not having a go at you - But imagine if a guy like you came into your shop when you were an independent thirty years ago - You hardly gave free nosh but you would still be disgusted I suspect.

My overall view is that their strategy is to close every shop and drive everybody online - The costs are minimal to service them there - And the lack of effort you are correctly pointing out to market their shops is all being hammered into targeted online advertising - Social media etc.

QC may well be THE LAST MAN STANDING ...

[Quixall Crossett]

No digs at you QC - Just saying what I see in Dublin.


A typical enough bigger shop might have two or three Jack Russels leashed to the leg of the chair that their old owners are sitting on - drinking the tea / coffee / biscuits etc - Good luck to them.

These lads might very possibly not even cover the cost of the nosh with their bets never mind the other overheads - A few hours watching the racing / football / golf or whatever - Lovely.

The terminals are mainly populated by non-nationals as far as I can see - Zero interest in horseracing but betting on football in Iraq / Egypt / Poland / Romania etc - Come in - Do their bets and leave.

Next time you are in pick up a couple of discarded tickets near the machines and have a look.

But as you mention it - You yourself were a total wast of space to the shop - Using it as a waiting room while Mrs C shopped for the crumpet or whatever - Yeah a nice cuppa and a free read of the Racing Post - A warm chair and then off you go - Not a red cent deposited.

Not having a go at you - But imagine if a guy like you came into your shop when you were an independent thirty years ago - You hardly gave free nosh but you would still be disgusted I suspect.

My overall view is that their strategy is to close every shop and drive everybody online - The costs are minimal to service them there - And the lack of effort you are correctly pointing out to market their shops is all being hammered into targeted online advertising - Social media etc.

QC may well be THE LAST MAN STANDING ...

I havent much in the way of replies except for one part of it.
But first things first. I do not drink as much coffee, tea etc in those places as you think. Its actually just the odd occasion and i NEVER ask for one. I sometimes take one when i'm offered though.

Its true i do not contribute one single penny to those places, guilty as charged. But you, along with many others on here know why that is. My betting is done around teatime for the following day and there are no prices available in them at that time. And if i managed to get into one of the shops for around 9.00 on the day of the race it means i have missed the EARLY prices by around 16 hours !!!!! That is no good to man nor beast. I want to be on as soon as those prices come out so i can do my thing and that means either having my punt or wheeling and dealing. I'm not waiting around until the following morning to take 8/1 about something that was 16's the previous teatime.
The shops are of no use to me.

Everybody got a cuppa and biccys ((if they wanted them) in my place years ago but i dont seem to recall many, if any, lingerers. It wouldnt have bothered me. A potential customer in my eyes.

And finally. I do agree that the firms would love to have every punter betting online. But it aint gonna happen just yet. And none of us know when it will happen. Will it be 5 years ? 10 years ? 20 years ? nobody knows.
So my point is that every business, no matter what it is, should run their business to its maximum potential in the time that it is open. They cant work to the theory that "Oh we will be closing this in eight years time so lets not bother with advertising" "
Everything has to be done with 100% commitment otherwise there is absolutely no point opening the doors in the morning.
"Bookmaking" advertising is crap. The shop window scenario i mentioned yesterday is of infant school standard. That actually figures because their tv adverts are obviously aimed at the under 8's because the are so childish and immature.
They literally have the window of opportunity to do something and yet fail miserably.
Boring, amateurish, unimaginative garbage !!

[Quixall Crossett]

One thing i will add though about the possible closing of the shops. While they are still raking it in thru the FOBT;s, it aint gonna happen any time soon. Granted, they are not making as much as they were when the max stake was higher but they are still a bloody good earner.
I told you about the son of a friend of mine who worked for one of the High Street firms for a short while but got out because he couldnt stand it and the firm wasnt interested in horse racing. He said he worked in a relatively small shop but one which had its regular machine players.He told me that, obviously, takings on the machines varied from day to day but on average they were MAKING an average of a grand a day PROFIT out of them.
I have no doubt there are people on here who work in a betting shop who could give us some more figures to dwell on.

No, i wouldnt close my shop if i was making an average of a grand a day out of the slot machines either !

[clancy]

As you are a man that would know your Customers - I genuinely don't think you would have been able to stomach it if FOBTs were there in your day - A Grand a day or not.

I couldn't imagine you sleeping well as you watched the devastation that these machines wreak on people's lives - Homes / Businesses / Families ruined.

And it's not fair to say it's their choice - These are a lethal drug - No comparison to a man doing his dosh on the gee gees.

I speak only from what I have read online - as Thank God these were banned for getting into Ireland despite a lot of Bookmaking lobbying.

[Quixall Crossett]

As you are a man that would know your Customers - I genuinely don't think you would have been able to stomach it if FOBTs were there in your day - A Grand a day or not.

I couldn't imagine you sleeping well as you watched the devastation that these machines wreak on people's lives - Homes / Businesses / Families ruined.

And it's not fair to say it's their choice - These are a lethal drug - No comparison to a man doing his dosh on the gee gees.

I speak only from what I have read online - as Thank God these were banned for getting into Ireland despite a lot of Bookmaking lobbying.

Bloody hell, we are agreeing on a lot lately.

I hate the machines with a vengeance ! And i've gone on record on here many times with my views on excessive gambling and the devastating effect it can have on people. I told a tale, (i could have told loads more), a year or two back about a punter, who became a friend, who used to come in a shop i was managing many, many moons ago who gambled away every penny he had and i told of the heartbreaking consequences of that. He lost his job, his home, his wife and kids had to go and live in a "special" home while he moved in with his mother. They ended up a couple of years later getting a house off the council and it coincided with the missus and i having a clear out of furniture and we give it all to them and i helped them with the decorating. He didnt lose the money to me nor did he lose it all in the shop i was running. But i felt his pain and it was the least i could do to help out. But it was very upsetting to witness.


No its not entirely their fault. It is a drug ! It is totally addictive. They all dream of the "big" win that will get them out of trouble but of course it doesnt happen.

And if i could i would ban the lot ! I would gladly smash up every machine in this country. They belong in casinos that have proper procedures of admittance and ALL customers are vetted.
Granted it would mean the probable closure of 99% of betting shops in the land but thats the price they would have to pay.
That itself would have the knock on effect of funding for racing but thats a different story for another day.

[Jombo]

christnmas in usa - did you mention that the other day QC?

[Quixall Crossett]

christnmas in usa - did you mention that the other day QC?

Not me mate. My powder has been kept dry so far this week. I did have three marked off at the entry stage for this week but none of them were declared.
We've decided to go to Wetherby on Saturday as long as the field sizes hold up. Apart from the first race which has 24 entries, the rest of the card have around the 13/14/15 mark. As long as they dont go down to four and five runner affairs we'll be there and i've promised Mrs Crossett i'll ignore the other meetings and just do the full Wetherby card.