SIMON NOTT: “Hi, My name is Simon and I was a problem gambler …..”

I can write about problem gambling because I was the epitome of a problem gambler. I worked all week in the local poultry processing plant. It was mostly horrible work. We started at 7am every day, a bus ride away, the bonus was, we’d finish at lunchtime on Friday. The only problem was, the bonus was that of the local bookies.

Every Friday, almost without fail, I’d lose my wages that afternoon, if not it was the exception and I’d do them in the next day, probably before midday on Hackney Dogs.

I tried to educate myself, I bought ‘Form Book Analysis’ by M.L Midgley. I don’t think it worked because I remember drawing quite a good little picture of money going down a drain on the inside cover. I tried to hang around with ‘professional punters’, I should have checked, the local self-proclaimed of that ilk wore a pair of daps to compliment his imitation Crombie, always look at their shoes I’ve been told since.

Sadly, it was too late to not get talked into a ‘Win a pound per race plus previous losses’ staking plan. That episode taught me the horror of retrieval staking. I also should have questioned why I needed to lend the pro-punter his tank if it was such a sure-fire way to riches. I never got it back of course.

Working for racecourse bookies cured me of the worst of my mug punting. I still lost until I met my mate Andy who put me on the straight and narrow. I still didn’t become an expert form book analyst but got my card marked. I had a few of those coming in, a mate that worked for an Internet bookie in the early days used tell what the ‘Shrewdies’ were backing.

Another thing to learn is, there’s no rhyme or reason to it apart from the Gambling Gods having a bit of fun, any new source will start brilliantly. Even the win a pound plus previous losses staking plan copped for a couple of weeks. The biggest lesson of gambling is the hardest to learn and accept. The losing run. It doesn’t matter how good you think you are or who marks your card, there will be crushing losing runs. Crushing that is if you haven’t learned your lesson. If you haven’t yet, what I’m about to write again will save you plenty of money and spare you sleepless nights. ‘It doesn’t matter how good you think you are or who marks your card, there will be crushing losing runs.’

You might not think it’s possible, it’s not possible, it’s a certainty.

It’s OK though, there is a way around this. You need to master your stake management. So you won’t end up with daps on your feet you need to take one thing on board. You can only bet like a man if you have a betting bank to match. You won’t like these figures, but it’s ‘Safer Gambling Week’ (see below), if you want to wade in with £10 bets you need £2000 in your back pocket or wherever it is you keep your gambling money. That’s right, 200 times your usual stake in money that you can afford to lose. You might think that’s super cautious because it is, and needs to be. At some point you’ll do your bollocks regardless of how good your selection method is. Doing a 100 points in a bad run during your punting career is a real possibility, if you don’t have the tank to support those losses then it only has to happen once, you’ll knock yourself out. You need the other 100 to keep yourself sane as your tank starts to dwindle.

That will test your mettle when it comes to keeping a record of all your bets, it’s a lot of fun when you’re flying, not so much when you’re doing your dough. If you don’t keep records you’ll kid yourself on how you are doing. You also need to understand that even betting to tenners, your turnover is colossal, I just checked, I bet to tenners, my turnover this year, betting everyday is £55,630 and counting. Imagine spending that much money on anything else and not knowing exactly where you were.

It’s important, no matter how modest you bet to take it seriously, because if you up your stakes after a purple patch and don’t have the tank to back up your balls the fun will soon stop.

It took me many years to learn, there may not be much glamour or bragging rights betting in small stakes, but there’s even less ending up in financial trouble due to your punting.

Whatever you learn from ‘Safer Gambling Week’ please take this advice on board.

SIMON NOTT

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Views of authors do not necessarily represent views of Star Sports Bookmakers.

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Simon Nott is author of: Skint Mob! Tales from the Betting Ring
available on Kindle CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

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