Boyles and Betfair .... A Beautiful Relationship ...

TOm Kelly

As a strategy for solvency and sanity, I have never opened a Betfair account ... I am bad enough without being tempted to sit at a screen and bet on anything that moves ... often very slowly, in my case ...

But there is a guy in the local Boyles - who, in my lifetime has never been missing from the shop - and who I have never yet seen placing a bet -

- who avails of the refreshments and the sis coverage -

- and whose seat is reserved almost like a throne by the regulars -

- and who spends the day on the phone -

- what I hear is: "what price to lay" or "what price to bet" -

my feeling is that he is calling Betfair ... can you use betfair in this way - do they have a phone service -

This gentleman has a lifestyle to be envied - the only time I have ever seen him disrupted from his punting is when he exits to put money in the meter for his jamjar ... a 2006 Whopper of a Gold Merc - I don't know the type - but it is about twice the size of anything else within a furlong ...

... among all the bad press that the bookmakers receive - I must applaud Boyles for facilitating the likes of this punter -- and indeed other punters that I have seen doing similar ...

as a PS - I have actually seen him leaving Boyles and popping down to the inferior seating in Powers on two occasions recently ... looking much disgruntled by the way, and rightly so ...

... once when Boyles SIS Screens went on the blink ... and once when they ran out of biscuits ... disgraceful really ...

meriwether

Heh. I work for a fairsized chain, so is of passing interest as to how the opposition are doing. Boyles really go for the 'living room feel', with the comfy chairs etc. What I notice is that while its often packed, theres a lot of sitting, but perhaps not a lot of betting. I would hazard that the bets per attendance on the shop floor ratio is lowest in Boyles.
Their instant coffe is dog-doo however. Powers instant Hot Chocolate is the business.

wb

Hi tom, backing and laying is allowed over the betfair phone. (min of €50 bet)

I once saw a guy in the local bookies with a laptop, and I presume he was taking advantage of the faster transmition on the SIS screens while betting in running (he seemed to be clicking away during certain races). SIS costs a few grand a year and is a few seconds faster that at home.

Regarding the bookies, I think it's great to have nice seating and 'free' coffee etc. It sure beats the poky little smoke filled shops I remember as a kid. One of my neighbours is retired, and for health reasons is not allowed to have a pint - he spends all day in the bookies, and loves the new tv's and layouts.

TOm Kelly

Thanks WB - that is what I wanted to know.

Some of the Boyles shops, in particular are massive in size ... with the price per sq. ft. in Dublin ... I do not know how they do it .. and there are definitely a lot like your friend ie. retired, that spend their day in the shop ... it is a great social service for them ... the way they are continuing to open shops, of course clarifies any doubts that they may be operating as a charity ... but they are a private company ... a guy told me that John Boyle said to him that if he makes €10 per day per shop - he would be doing ok ... a bit dramatic maybe ... but this is probably the difference between being driven by a PLC profit mentality.

The thing I am absolutely disgusted about is the imminent arrival of the FOBT machines .... these are a plague - they are going to ruin some lives - make no mistake about it - I could not believe it on a visit to UK ... there was nobody betting but there were queues for these things ... guys pissing money into them ... they are totally addictive and worse than poker machines as far as I can see ... its a sad day for Ireland when these are legalised ... and I believe one of the driving forces behind their introduction was former minister Ivan Yates who retired to run Celtic Bookmakers - he, above anybody should be ashamed of himself - for every cup of tea or hot chocolate that our friends, the pensioners get ... there are going to be families with very bare cupboards and people driven to despair ... it is disgusting.

wb

TOm Kelly wrote:

Thanks WB - that is what I wanted to know.

Some of the Boyles shops, in particular are massive in size ... with the price per sq. ft. in Dublin ... I do not know how they do it .. and there are definitely a lot like your friend ie. retired, that spend their day in the shop ... it is a great social service for them ... the way they are continuing to open shops, of course clarifies any doubts that they may be operating as a charity ... but they are a private company ... a guy told me that John Boyle said to him that if he makes €10 per day per shop - he would be doing ok ... a bit dramatic maybe ... but this is probably the difference between being driven by a PLC profit mentality.

The thing I am absolutely disgusted about is the imminent arrival of the FOBT machines .... these are a plague - they are going to ruin some lives - make no mistake about it - I could not believe it on a visit to UK ... there was nobody betting but there were queues for these things ... guys pissing money into them ... they are totally addictive and worse than poker machines as far as I can see ... its a sad day for Ireland when these are legalised ... and I believe one of the driving forces behind their introduction was former minister Ivan Yates who retired to run Celtic Bookmakers - he, above anybody should be ashamed of himself - for every cup of tea or hot chocolate that our friends, the pensioners get ... there are going to be families with very bare cupboards and people driven to despair ... it is disgusting.

I agree completely Tom.
I was in London recently to go to an AW meeting at Kempton - I popped into a bookie on the way to the track and found about half a dozen people looking to use these machines, and about 4 people actually betting on the racing. These machines have a built in high over-round, which is a disgrace. The other side of the coin is that adults are free to spend their money as they please, but I feel it is just pandering to addictive personalities. Even the fruit machines drive me mad in pubs. At least if I lose money on a race, it's because I read the form wrong, or called it wrong - not simply bad luck.

meriwether

wb wrote:

Hi tom, backing and laying is allowed over the betfair phone. (min of €50 bet)

I once saw a guy in the local bookies with a laptop, and I presume he was taking advantage of the faster transmition on the SIS screens while betting in running (he seemed to be clicking away during certain races). SIS costs a few grand a year and is a few seconds faster that at home.

Regarding the bookies, I think it's great to have nice seating and 'free' coffee etc. It sure beats the poky little smoke filled shops I remember as a kid. One of my neighbours is retired, and for health reasons is not allowed to have a pint - he spends all day in the bookies, and loves the new tv's and layouts.

There is a delay in terrestrial tv pictures of about 2-3 seconds as compared to SIS. When Im working, and there's a race of interest to me on BBC/C4 Ill usually turn off the SIS sound. If I have had a bet on the race, Ill leave it on, because its important to me to know 2 seconds before anyone else sees it on BBC/C4 that the nag has been shot by a sniper.

Taff

It seems it's the same people who are playing the machines in my local shop, one guy even had to pop out to the cashpoint before dinner time on Saturday! They just don't realise that they are mathematically certain to lose eventually.

I guess they need something to do whilst waiting for the cartoon racing and rapidos.

mdwexford

adults should be free to spend their money however they like imo and anyone who loses all their cash on one of these fobt machines was surely going to find somewhere to lose it anyway. they wouldnt be my cup of tea but look at virtual horses/dogs, 49s, rapido, its all the same, a load of rubbish designed to seperate people from their wages.

fade2black

Rapido? God is that another virtual thing?

Derek Zoolander

why would anyone bet woth boyles anyway...they won't lay a proper bet at their 'advertised' prices

mdwexford

fade2black wrote:

Rapido? God is that another virtual thing?

its another numbers game like 49's ftb, rubbish

fade2black

mdwexford wrote:

its another numbers game like 49's ftb, rubbish

I'm just waiting for the day when they'll be flipping coins and running flies up a wall.

The Ladbrokes around the corner from me stayed open until 6:30 on that day last week when there was no racing on. What did they have on?

I don't mind local bookies, the one closest to me (called Sportsbet) has screens all over the place and will accommodate almost any bet (including matching specials from other bookies). I go in there fairly often for a hot chocolate and a racing chat with the manager...I can't say I've taken much notice of this rapido though.

Healio

fade2black wrote:

The Ladbrokes around the corner from me stayed open until 6:30 on that day last week when there was no racing on. What did they have on?

The same thing they have everyday until 6:30, the end of the BAGS, the US racing and Virtual Racing. Though last Thursday we were treated to Nad Al Sheba.

fade2black wrote:

can't say I've taken much notice of this rapido though

Not many people would, only the truly riddled would be there at 10:20 to bet on it.

TOm Kelly

mdwexford wrote:

adults should be free to spend their money however they like imo and anyone who loses all their cash on one of these fobt machines was surely going to find somewhere to lose it anyway..

mdwexford ... you could say the same about drugs.

I have been following some discussions on the web and UK betting shop managers have said that machines are taking as much as 400 per day profit per machine - varying from shop to shop at between 50% and 70% of the total shop profit ... some said they would close down the betting part if they could ...

in my visits to bookies I see a few people betting on 49s and virtual ... but they are usually the older retired type of punter ... and only for a euro or two ... but what I saw playing those machines were people out of control - losing money they could not afford ... I remember years ago in Rathmines ... a guy I worked with got his cheque at 11.30 on Friday - headed straight to the bank - and then to the poker machines ... and invariably was skint by Friday evening - we had to buy him the beer - it's a nasty business.

Anyway, we will leave it at that - this is a racing forum so let's get back to it.

mdwexford

mdwexford wrote:

anyone who loses all their cash on one of these fobt machines was surely going to find somewhere to lose it anyway.

.

rubbish to compare it to drugs imo

its the same as the government wanting to close down casinos earlier last year,
adults make their own decisions, if people are stupid/irresponsable enough to gamble all their money away tough luck. end of story/argument as far as im concerned.

fr wishy washy

fade2black wrote:

I'm just waiting for the day when they'll be flipping coins and /QUOTE]

Do they not do that in Bookies shops already?. I'm pretty sure I saw a coin based computer game where you have to guess which colour will come up, black or white.

scojones

It's a joke to be honest. Those "lucky numbers", the virtual racing (dogs and horses), and now Rapido? Christ. Things like this would make you want to go to the small time bookie up the street, but fear of him running away to avoid paying you your winnings doesn't sit well with me.

masterK

Going back to the original post I wonder how aware bookies are of the amount of people who just use them to watch a race rather than bet with them. I know I do it all the time when in work, I place a bet on Betfair and pop into the bookies to watch a race, I always notice plenty of people there who don't seem to be betting either.

TOm Kelly

as I entered a Ladbrokes shop today to back Tiger Woods, I was met by a wave of aromas that fairly put it up to my senses ... on surveying the scene there were three patrons ...

two of them were eating fish and chips ...

the third was a penny stamp located in the corner ... he was mooching through a sack that probably contained the entire sum of his wordly posessions ... I watched him produce a dodgy sambo and dig into it with relish ... there was a peggy dell from him that would topple over that container ship hovering at 35 degrees ... poor divil ...

two customer service attendants presided behind the counter ... one was engrossed in a novel and the other was battling with sudoku ...

to be fair, the sudoku kid was pleasant enough about getting me the price on Tiger ( 7/4 - I think that is a bet ) ...

I watched two races before I left ... nobody had a bet ...

and as I was leaving, the sudoku kid let go with an air freshener spray ... man, with the mixture of the three aromas ... I was going 2/9 the ozone layer to bite the cosmic dust ...

Healio

TOm Kelly wrote:

as I entered a Ladbrokes shop

lol i didnt need to read past that to know what was coming.

masterK wrote:

Going back to the original post I wonder how aware bookies are of the amount of people who just use them to watch a race rather than bet with them. I know I do it all the time when in work, I place a bet on Betfair and pop into the bookies to watch a race

I find by the time the real racing starts, the riddlers have you in such a bad mood you don't even notice who's in the shop. You see a slip on the counter put it through give it back, and repeat.

I always notice plenty of people there who don't seem to be betting either.

Their time of day is 10:40 - 12:40 and/or 4:30 to 6:30, when they bet on Cartoons: "At least i know the jockey is fixing the race!!" and im stuck there thinking that wasnt even funny the first time you said it to me.