#BettingPeople: MIKE SPENCE

Interview: MIKE SPENCE Mike Spence spurned a lucrative career in the city to pursue the life of a professional gambler. Much to the horror of his parents who had put him through an education that led to gilt edge job offers in the square mile. Meeting Mike Spence.

MIKE SPENCE (part 1 of 3)

Professional gambler Mike Spence talks about his angle beating the bookmakers, time and figures feature a lot. He talks about his upbringing with racehorses, how he thinks that specialising is the key to success and how working as a team helps the workload. He talks of his University days running a tipping line, his first work in the City, the dismay of his parents when learning of his career choice of professional gambling and working 12 hour days. He covers his struggle to get on and the way the industry is changing.

MIKE SPENCE (part 2 of 3)

Professional Punter Mike Spence continues talking about his life as a successful young professional living in London, with a ‘work hard play hard’ ethic. The difficulty of getting his bets on all-weather racing and his attempts to hide his money to ensure prices don’t shorten. The value, or not, of inside information, horse owners being terrible judges and not putting your feet up during winning periods. He also dispels the theory that Betfair SP is always right.

MIKE SPENCE (part 3 of 3)

In the final part of our interview with Mike Spence he tells the tale of how a horse that he owned was backed from 33/1 into 4/5 to become the ultimate ‘good thing’ at Lingfield. Mike also discusses stallion statistics, what separates professional punters from recreational punters, discipline and not giving your edge away. Did his privileged background give him a leg-up to where he is now? Is professional punting a career path he’s looking to pursue for life?