The end of Hills?

okidoki987

Hills are closing 20 of their 36 shops.
Not worth their while staying open here now.

myflipflops

Too much effort to make money in shops here. 3000 shops or whatever in Britain with 5 FOBTs in each is a much better proposition for them. If they ever legalise the things here, they will be back overnight.

Warper

No great loss anyways, bad prices, crap shops and sometimes hard to get on a bet.

Kod-box

myflipflops wrote: »

Too much effort to make money in shops here. 3000 shops or whatever in Britain with 5 FOBTs in each is a much better proposition for them. If they ever legalise the things here, they will be back overnight.

Are they the slot machines?

why are they illegal here?

okidoki987

Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.
You can play all sorts of games on them. roulette, craps, slots, blackjack etc.
They are illegal in ROI.
Very bad publicity after what happened with all the slots/poker machines in town about 10 years ago.
Nowadays you shouldn't be able to "make" any money playing machines in places like Bray, Bundoran, Salthill, you should only be able get your money back and no more.
Legally they are only for "fun", that doesn't work mind you.
There are too many people/organisations here set against them including Paddy Powers.
I've seen and played them in London and they are cash cows, people queue up to play.
A lot of punters in the UK just go into the bookies to play the machines all day long, big margins.
If some bookies had their way, they would only have these machines in their shops, currently up to a max of 4 allowed.

Kod-box

properly regulated i dont see the problem tbh, i wouldnt personally play them but its all about choice at the end of the day imo.

mailburner

Warper wrote: »

No great loss anyways, bad prices, crap shops and sometimes hard to get on a bet.

+1

the shop in galway offers the punter absolutely nothing
There's not near enough screens either

it annoyed me seeing those betting terminals in england though
i can't understand why the like of pp would be against it?
I guess some people will lose their money regardless
be it on horses or dogs or whatever
The thing that infuriates me the most is virtual dogs and horses.
that's purely for the degenerate gambler surely.
i thinks that's an insult to the ordinary punter who just backs
horses and feck all else.

okidoki987

I guess PP are against them because of the type of "people" they will attract.
They couldn't be against them because of the margins?

There's a Boyles in Parnell Street that you have to go into and see for yourself to believe what goes on in there.
There's a little area at the back where all the "local hoods" gather and I've seen drugs, phones and other goods (obvioulsy stolen) changing hands for money.
Didn't wait around to see anymore.
The staff cant really see as they are too far away, probably couldn't do a lot anyway even if they could.

Crowie13

okidoki987 wrote: »

I guess PP are against them because of the type of "people" they will attract.
They couldn't be against them because of the margins?

There's a Boyles in Parnell Street that you have to go into and see for yourself to believe what goes on in there.
There's a little area at the back where all the "local hoods" gather and I've seen drugs, phones and other goods (obvioulsy stolen) changing hands for money.
Didn't wait around to see anymore.
The staff cant really see as they are too far away, probably couldn't do a lot anyway even if they could.

I was only in there a few weeks ago when the OH was getting hair extensions done on Moore Street, had to wait around for 15 mins so decided to go over and do a bet to kill some time. There was about 8 people in the place, 3 of them were off there heads while 2 were asleep. Mad shop altogether.

The betting machines are very addictive and can really suck people in. Was in UK at a stags last year and went into do a few bets, brought 1 of the lads who never gambles with me and within 5 mins he was hooked on roulette and blackjack. It was him wanting to stay and me trying to get out of the place after losses a few bets on the horses instead of the other way round :eek:

okidoki987

There's a Powers 4 doors away and there's no problems in there.
Whoever designed the Boyles shop needs to have another look at it.
Powers has no "hiding" place and the staff can see everyone and everywhere.
Boyles staff can't see round the corner and the shop layout is terrible, it wouldn't encourage someone to go in and stay there for a while.
Wonder how many people would collect in there if they clicked a big win?

UrbanSea

It's no wonder they're going down,just look at the offer on their site,they must take punters to be total mugs.
They offer 9/2 on Kauto to win the GC,and are currently 11/10 on the King George. They have an 'offer' on the double at 7/1. If you back them seperately in a double it works out at around 10 and a half/1.

Warper

greetings wrote: »

It's no wonder they're going down,just look at the offer on their site,they must take punters to be total mugs.
They offer 9/2 on Kauto to win the GC,and are currently 11/10 on the King George. They have an 'offer' on the double at 7/1. If you back them seperately in a double it works out at around 10 and a half/1.

You cant back them separately in a double though as it is a related bet. No bookie will let you, they will give you a special price and the 7-1 sounds bout right.

okidoki987

As Warper says you can't do them in a "related" double.
Like backing Chelsea to win the PL and Drogba to be top goalscorer, again related so not a straight double.
If KS wins the King George at 11/10 then he won't be 9/2 for the GC, more like 2/1-5/2 area.

UrbanSea

Aw ****e lads my fault,wasn't thinking at all.