Work in a Bookies???

sudzs

How hard or easy is it to get a job in a bookies with no previous experience apart from a love of horse racing and gambling?!

And advice or tips (!) appreciated!

dubgirl

usually easy enough - have a look at the recruitment section on the paddy power plc website.

CiaranC

Easy enough. Most entry level positions in the industry provide full training.

PP recruit year round for their shops, and several times a year for the call centre in Tallaght. Same with Boyles, who are in Dundalk.

lost_for_words

Dear God don't do it!!! If you have a love for all things gambling they'll suck it out of you, it might look grand from the customers side of the counter but on the other side it can be a very different story altogether.

CiaranC

Ignore the whingers. It can be tough going at entry level, but show some ability and knowledge and you'll move on in a matter of months.

Stuff like event management, teletext, website content management are great craic and a good stepping stone up to the raceroom.

dermo88

Betting shops have a high level of staff turnover in my experience. The betting shop environment is fine when your young, and starting out. Its a good place to learn. But if you've done other things, its your 3rd or 4th job, I would avoid it like the plague.

Normally the first step is to be used as a "floating" or "relief" cashier, taking in bets and paying out. There are normally, depending on business levels, 2 cashiers and a settler in a betting office, where they are taking in 1,000 Dockets a day. The amount of money taken in a betting office is not really a good gauge of business levels, its the amount of dockets, it takes as much time to deal with a 5 Euro bet as a 50 Euro bet. A floating cashier is moved from office to office to deal with days off, etc. So you'll get a grand tour of Dublin, depending on which division you are allocated to.

Depending on how you get on, the next step is becoming a settler. That means having good sporting knowledge, fast mental arithmetic, and the ability to explain complex betting concepts to complete idiots. That usually happens after a few months to a year. Depends on staff turnover. Depends on how you tolerate poor wages, although Paddy Powers are amongst the best in the industry. But every single one of their shops have high volumes of business, and you will earn every penny of it, especially on a Saturday afternoon.

The best opportunities are on the Internet side, so I would recommend learning more about Asian Handicap soccer, American Sports such as Basketball, American Football and Baseball. These will all work in your favour. Horseracing plays a much smaller role in gambling now than ever before, because the abolition or near removal of betting tax has given bookmakers the option to reduce their margins to the point where they attract a client base that is more into arbitrage as opposed to pure speculation.

lost_for_words

CiaranC wrote:

Ignore the whingers. It can be tough going at entry level, but show some ability and knowledge and you'll move on in a matter of months.

Stuff like event management, teletext, website content management are great craic and a good stepping stone up to the raceroom.

I wouldn't call it whinging.
In my experience there are not as many opportunities within this industry when starting at ground level in a bookie shop. Yes there are fast track programmes within the bigger companies for becoming deputy manager and then manager. As pointed out a step up from being a cashier is to become a settler but that isn't even a major issue now as most of the larger companies are computerised. Personally I feel that the pay is bad and there is not much reward for initiative, hardwork or loyalty.
I agree staff turnover on a shop level is very high and there is reason for that, more often than not the conditions of work are not good.

Beyond the shop environment, there are probably more opportunities in the likes of trading departments and of course internet gambling and better pay. From the perspective of working in the shop environment, the bad pay and increasing demands with reward does not make it a fantastic career choice.

sudzs

Thanks all!

I'm more unsure than ever about it now tho!

I'm in my late 30's and haven't been working for the last couple of years due to moving around the country with partners work (long story!) so want to get back into something completely different.

Am I too old to start off in a bookies??? :eek:

lost_for_words

No you're definitely not too old. If it's something you really want to try you shouldn't have too much bother. It's an advantage that you already know the types of bets etc which means less time training for them. Although I paint a negative picture overall, that's just been my own experience for the compnay I work for.Taking them out of the equation, you can have great craic in a shop when you get to know your customers, and there's always a great buzz for the big festivals.

Try the bigger companies websites they usually have a career section, and I've also heard that PP have the best rates of pay in comparison to the others. Other than that just drop a CV into a shop or post one to the HR dept in their HQ.

dermo88

I worked in the betting shops for over 2 years after college. It was badly paid but great craic. It prepared me to work in the Internet environment. So in that respect it was something of an apprenticeship.

The shop environment can vary. You can be in a rough area, with the scum of the earth, and it can be very intimidating. You can be in an area with people who are allergic to soap, and you are bound to find a few stinkers coming into the shop on a daily basis. You have nice parts, where you know the customers, but it takes a while to get to that stage. A year or two anyway.

The betting shop environment, can end up being the refuge of frustrated, bad tempered old spinsters. I've worked with a few of them before. Their nerves can be shredded if they have been through the ordeal of too many holdups. Thank God, I've never been in one, and hope I never will.

Complaints from customers will happen when they try and cheat you on a price, on a slow count, on money, but thankfully, computerisation has got rid of much of that nonsense. You've just got to stand your ground and say no. Never give credit, and be diplomatic. Gambling is built on greed, and you have to be on your guard. You won't always have a decent area manager who will stand up for their staff vs customers. You have to trust your own judgement, and if you are being put under commercial pressure to reach turnover and profit targets by offering credit, never do it. Its not worth the trouble.

Fraud. Because its badly paid, because staff may not be motivated or badly treated, the opportunity to lift a few quid here and there can happen. This can happen where you least expect it, with the people least expected to do it. Fraud has tainted my view of Unions. Two staff members engaging in fraud at a bookies I worked in were shop stewards, and gave evidence against me when I complained that I did not want to work there on account of certain reservations given about the finances there. This ranged from bets being placed on credit. Also, the area manager was a chavinist pig, and I have an off the record quote from him "I am reluctant to employ men, because they are tempted by gambling and horseracing being shown, and may resort to fraud".

I was fairly upset by that remark, and my reply.

"How many of your staff are male, and how long have they been here. The been in this company since you started in 1990, how many involved men, men gamble as much as the women. How many cases of fraud have there how many involved women, irrespective of the fact that 20% of the workforce here are male?"

Answers: 1. Cannot say how many men, you'll gauge how big the company was, and possibly who it was.
2. Fraud.....6 major cases, involving amounts greater than IEP1,000.00, in timescales ranging from 4 months to 17 years.
3. All commited by the girls. The lads knew we were being watched a bit more, but that did not matter, most of the lads were in it for a career not for extra money. The girls could move on to other places if they wanted. The lads, well, if you are found "lifting", you'll never work in the industry again.

The plus points.

Festivals. Always great craic. I have fond memories of Cheltenham, the adrenaline, and winning a few quid. It also happens around St Patricks Day which helps.

The social life. After work, we normally would meet for a few Pints on a Thursday / Friday after being paid. The camaraderie was something else.

I left after a former colleague wanted me to work for a new Internet operation. The night racing had started, and my working day had gone to a 11-12 hour shift 3 or 4 times a week, with 2 other days. They were short staffed. I found out that a new member of staff had started on the same amount that it had taken me 1 1/2 years to reach. That was one incentive for leaving, since it was quite insulting.

The betting office is badly paid, because in reality, its a chronically inefficient method of taking bets. The amount of money per customer is a lot less than the Internet or Phone. The percentage "hold/win" has dropped from 13% in the early 1990's to 8% now, even though the betting volumes have increased dramatically. At this stage, you can place 20 cent bets on horseracing online if you wanted, and with a lot less hassle than the betting shop. Personally, I think the days of the betting shop are numbered, and it really is no future, apart from a stepping stone for better things.

Paddy Power pay amongst the best in the industry. The British Firms never paid much in their shops, but the opportunities for advancement were much greater in the long term. If you want more info, PM me.