#BettingPeople: GARY WOODGATE

#BettingPeople: Gary Woodgate has been at the sharp end of Star Sports since jumping ship from an established career with Ladbrokes. In that time he has helped the firm to a meteoric rise from its humble beginnings taking credit bets on the telephone of a residential flat to one of the UK’s largest independent firms renowned for taking huge bets. In this four part interview, he tells his story. Meeting Gary Woodgate with Simon Nott.

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GARY WOODGATE (part 1 of 4)

Gary talks about not exactly being ‘off’ at school, turning to the betting industry, working for Ladbrokes for 15 until discovering the identity of the man behind the ‘sticking on teams’ who were backing hot information and plaguing his shop plus a boozy meeting that changed his life.

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GARY WOODGATE (part 2 of 4)

Gary explains that jumping from Ladbrokes to Star wasn’t the leap of faith you might imagine it was, being thrown into the on-course deep end, working from the flat above Betfred, gathering clients, getting knocked as an occupational hazard and gathering a personal fortune.

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GARY WOODGATE (part 3 of 4)

In Part 3, Gary explains why Star has bucked trends, from betting shops to on-course pitches, how efforts to diversify haven’t always gone to plan, his reputation as a hard man in business and being able to thrash out decisions man to man with Ben Keith.

 

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GARY WOODGATE (part 4 of 4)

Does Gary enjoy the pressure of laying huge bets to high rolling clients, how he sees Ben as a person and a businessman, what advice he’d give a young person who is keen to get into bookmaking and why he’s bailing out a decade before most people retire.

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GARY WOODGATE #BettingPeople PODCAST