Went into a bookies today

BDI · 21-08-2019 6:38pm #1

I entered a bookies in a very upmarket part of Dublin with a work colleague today. My god how sad it was. There was a few machines in the corner, a foreign looking lad and an Irish/Western European looking lad. The Irish looking lad was scratching his forehead when he got up there was a chunk of skin missing where he had scratched off. No messing. Neither looked like they were having any fun but their money was as good as anyone’s.
There were another few loser looking men about the place. Sleazy looking wasters. There was also one or two people with building site clothes on, maybe on lunch. I left and waited outside.

I’m fairly getting on now but it seems all the young lads in work think this is the coolest pastime going. My work friend didn’t seem to see the same sight I seen in there.

I work with lads on big money who never have a washer who bet as a past time.
They bum smokes all the time off the other smokers. They look older than the drinkers.

Why is it so fashionable what can be done?

Crock Rock · 21-08-2019 6:39pm

Huh?

Fart · 21-08-2019 6:43pm

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

declanflynn · 21-08-2019 6:44pm

It's a hobby, must hobbies don't even give u the chance of winning a few euros, chance of an injury alrite

Woke Hogan · 21-08-2019 6:45pm

The worst thing about watching football matches these days is seeing that fat headed wanker Ray Winstone urging desperate people to throw their money down the toilet with his mockney 'oo 'aw ya banter bollocks.

Gambling commercials should have gone the way of booze and fag ads a long time ago.

1o059k7ewrqj3n · 21-08-2019 6:45pm

Looking down on and judging others still a popular pastime I see.

adox · 21-08-2019 6:46pm

Hard to read or make sense of.

21-08-2019 6:46pm

BDI wrote: »

Why is it so fashionable what can be done?

Comma to think of it, your query is pointless.

freshpopcorn · 21-08-2019 6:49pm

adox wrote: »

Hard to read or make sense of.

It sounds very lower class!

EmmetSpiceland · 21-08-2019 6:52pm

Woke Hogan wrote: »

The worst thing about watching football matches these days is seeing that fat headed wanker Ray Winstone urging desperate people to throw their money down the toilet with his mockney 'oo 'aw ya banter bollocks.

Gambling commercials should have gone the way of booze and fag ads a long time ago.

You “cant”!

UrbanFret · 21-08-2019 6:53pm

freshpopcorn wrote: »

It sounds very lower class!

None of the ops business what they choose to do with their cash. "What can be done"seriously?

Thespoofer · 21-08-2019 6:55pm

'There was also one or two people with building site clothes on'

Ha, look at you, with your fancy pants...

jcorr · 21-08-2019 6:55pm

BDI wrote: »

I entered a bookies in a very upmarket part of Dublin with a work colleague today. My god how sad it was. There was a few machines in the corner, a foreign looking lad and an Irish/Western European looking lad. The Irish looking lad was scratching his forehead when he got up there was a chunk of skin missing where he had scratched off. No messing. Neither looked like they were having any fun but their money was as good as anyone’s.
There were another few loser looking men about the place. Sleazy looking wasters. There was also one or two people with building site clothes on, maybe on lunch. I left and waited outside.

I’m fairly getting on now but it seems all the young lads in work think this is the coolest pastime going. My work friend didn’t seem to see the same sight I seen in there.

I work with lads on big money who never have a washer who bet as a past time.
They bum smokes all the time off the other smokers. They look older than the drinkers.

Why is it so fashionable what can be done?

It's a bookie's not a fashion show. If you want something easy on the eye go to Brown Thomas. Hahaha

Force Carrier · 21-08-2019 6:58pm

Sorry you lost your bet today OP.

corsav6 · 21-08-2019 6:58pm

Fu#k me lads I was in the bookies today minding my own business and in comes this posh twat looking down his nose at everyone and judging them. Then he went outside and hung around the door like a bad smell judging everyone who passed. What can be done?

Tammy! · 21-08-2019 6:58pm

I wouldn't know what they're like op. Ive been barred since I was two.

My dad likes to put on a bet. He doesn't smoke and was never a big drinker. Drinks maybe 4 times a year max and doesn't spend too much on betting.

Anyway when I was two, we were in the shop and he decided he really needed to do this bet so he took me in with him and held me while I was sat up on the counter. I picked up a load of dockets and threw them all over the place.

When the fella who worked there came over to help tidy them up, apparently he pointed at me and said 'youre barred' and I've never gone into one since

johnnyskeleton · 21-08-2019 6:59pm

BDI wrote: »

I entered a bookies in a very upmarket part of Dublin with a work colleague today.

In SoCoDo we call them Turf Accountants, thank you very much

punisher5112 · 21-08-2019 7:00pm

The smell, will always remember the smell....

freshpopcorn · 21-08-2019 7:01pm

Couldn't you have just got a coffee or tea OP?

somesoldiers · 21-08-2019 7:07pm

Only time I go in the bookies is if am heading for a pint & forgot to bring a pen for the crossword

kneemos · 21-08-2019 7:07pm

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Couldn't you have just got a coffee or tea OP?

Do they have free coffee in bookies?
Fifty cents bet,free coffee,score.

EmmetSpiceland · 21-08-2019 7:09pm

I remember the girl in charge of the lotto, thankless job, in my old place heard that the bookies across the street did their own take on the lotto and in this one the “pay outs” were smaller but the chances of winning much higher.

She convinced everyone in the syndicate that this would be a better “investment” and went over and picked the numbers and placed the bet.

When she came around the next week looking for the money I asked if we were doing the National lottery or her “bookies” one. Her face dropped and she said she didn’t want to do the bookies one. Said it was an awful, the place was awful, the punters were awful, and it an, altogether, awful experience and we were going back to the “normal” lotto.

No one really cared but this was in a fairly nice part of town but stick a bookies beside a pub and you’re going to get a crowd like that. Awful.

Dial Hard · 21-08-2019 7:11pm

They're fairly dismal places, in fairness to our suspiciously new and prolific OP.

One of the regular posters in Cries of Retail whose name currently escapes me used to work in one. Sounded fcuking horrendous.

mynamejeff · 21-08-2019 7:11pm

I frequent the bookies once or at most twice a week for a flutter on the horses , i know before i go in there how much im going to bet and almost never watch the races in the shop. i generally win more than i lose but not by a lot, i wouldn't say i have a problem, its a fairly harmless hobby , certainly less harmful and costly as some other hobby's

I have been in there in everything from a suit to gym gear what ever is convenient to me.

I can only think of a few time ive been in when the same two guys weren't there. Its like they live there , and in the evening there would be a big pile of betting slips (losers) in front of them , no jobs no Mrs no kids rarely see them with drink on them, just betting

weirdly they dont even seem to talk to each other.

It can seem very depressing in there on a quite day but i dont hang around

21-08-2019 7:13pm

I've never been in one but i wouldn't mind trying that new thing of betting on a couple lotto numbers for the craic

freshpopcorn · 21-08-2019 7:14pm

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

I remember the girl in charge of the lotto, thankless job, in my old place heard that the bookies across the street did their own take on the lotto and in this one the “pay outs” were smaller but the chances of winning much higher.

She convinced everyone in the syndicate that this would be a better “investment” and went over and picked the numbers and placed the bet.

When she came around the next week looking for the money I asked if we were doing the National lottery or her “bookies” one. Her face dropped and she said she didn’t want to do the bookies one. Said it was an awful, the place was awful, the punters were awful, and it an, altogether, awful experience and we were going back to the “normal” lotto.

No one really cared but this was in a fairly nice part of town but stick a bookies beside a pub and you’re going to get a crowd like that. Awful.

I'd say she was just a tad sensitive!

BDI · 21-08-2019 7:16pm

Thinking back now there was a fella who looked abit like a skinny begby from train spotting trying to look hard eyeballing around the place.

Only really noticing him now 8 or so hours after I was in there. Probably still in there.

EmmetSpiceland · 21-08-2019 7:17pm

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I'd say she was just a tad sensitive!

She just wasn’t expecting the place to be so “grim”. Most of us have been inside a bookies but maybe they’re just a different breed in certain areas.

This girl was no “shrinking violet” but I think the sight, and smell, of a few of the clientele just took her by surprise.

LuasSimon · 21-08-2019 7:21pm

Huge amount of problem gamblers in this country some who frequent shops and others on their phones , all gambling advertising should be banned as there are many people who can’t resist betting their last tenner or worse again their family’s last tenner...

county · 21-08-2019 7:23pm

Before the smoking ban the bookies just smelt of fags,now you get to smell everything and everyone,not pleasant.

freshpopcorn · 21-08-2019 7:31pm

BDI wrote: »

Why is it so fashionable what can be done?

When I reread your post I noticed the question at the end of it.
All that can done is for you to toughen up.
It's a bookies not a vegan eco cafe!

BDI · 21-08-2019 7:33pm

freshpopcorn wrote: »

When I reread your post I noticed the question at the end of it.
All that can done is for you to toughen up.
It's a bookies not a vegan eco cafe!

I’m tough. Sometimes I go into macdonalds in the ilac. I enter from the Parnell street side.

EmmetSpiceland · 21-08-2019 7:36pm

Going to the “bookies” isn’t fashionable. Nipping in to put a bet on is fine but most people today would use their phones for a betting app or website.

Most young people, today, don’t enjoy “hanging out” with piss stained old men with no teeth watching the “virtual” dogs race.

BDI · 21-08-2019 7:46pm

bluewolf wrote: »

I've never been in one but i wouldn't mind trying that new thing of betting on a couple lotto numbers for the craic

There’s no Craic though. Heading to shop full of people who’s wives and children have to slum it if they leave money out of sight. Have to deal with these wasters mood swings and lack of hygeine.
The advertising make it seem like craic but it’s a place where all the people who ask people for a euro at the bus stop hang out when they arnt injesting substances.

mdwexford · 21-08-2019 7:47pm

Bookies is pretty grim on the whole, gamble at home.

Win win.

mdwexford · 21-08-2019 7:47pm

Woke Hogan wrote: »

Gambling commercials should have gone the way of booze and fag ads a long time ago.

What tosh.

punisher5112 · 21-08-2019 7:47pm

mdwexford wrote: »

Bookies is pretty grim on the whole, gamble at home.

Win win.

Not if you literally gamble the home

BDI · 21-08-2019 7:48pm

mdwexford wrote: »

What tosh.

Would you miss them if they went?

frag420 · 21-08-2019 7:51pm

corsav6 wrote: »

Fu#k me lads I was in the bookies today minding my own business and in comes this posh twat looking down his nose at everyone and judging them. Then he went outside and hung around the door like a bad smell judging everyone who passed. What can be done?

How’s that manky scab on your head, did you get it looked at yet?

21-08-2019 7:51pm

BDI wrote: »

There’s no Craic though. Heading to shop full of people who’s wives and children have to slum it if they leave money out of sight. Have to deal with these wasters mood swings and lack of hygeine.
The advertising make it seem like craic but it’s a place where all the people who ask people for a euro at the bus stop hang out when they arnt injesting substances.

Bookies' shops are pretty grim places, but you almost never get drug addicts in there.

"I am the Lord thy God" is the first commandment of heroin abuse, "Thou shalt put no other Gods before me"

It's a bit like the way you rarely meet an active alcoholic with a heroin problem. Heroin is a jealous God.

tayto lover · 21-08-2019 7:52pm

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Going to the “bookies” isn’t fashionable. Nipping in to put a bet on is fine but most people today would use their phones for a betting app or website.

Most young people, today, don’t enjoy “hanging out” with piss stained old men with no teeth watching the “virtual” dogs race.

You will find it hard to get a mortgage or loan if a bank / credit union know you gamble. Transactions tell tales if they show up on your bank records.

BDI · 21-08-2019 7:54pm

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Bookies' shops are pretty grim places, but you almost never get drug addicts in there.

"I am the Lord thy God" is the first commandment of heroin abuse, "Thou shalt put no other Gods before me"

It's a bit like the way you rarely meet an active alcoholic with a heroin problem. Heroin is a jealous God.

I mentioned earlier that I enter macdonalds in the ilac from the Parnell street entrance. The reason for this is I frequent a lot of areas in town some of them dank addict nests. They will eat or drink anything to get a buzz on if there is no heroin. They will also put two euro on a ten to one hoping they make a score.

somesoldiers · 21-08-2019 8:24pm

Brother in law manages a “casino” they think they are in Las Vegas, dark holes, “members only”, “comping” tea and sandwiches & they regularly get take aways in for the clients to keep them gambling, roses for the ladies on Valentines Day... whatever chance punters have on the 2:15 at Pontefract they have sod all chance on a roulette machine rigged to pay out 1 in 10.

They have gone 24 hour recently, every town in the country has them now -a scourge

Richard Hillman · 21-08-2019 8:27pm

I don't really like my Bank Account having too much interaction with my betting account, so I tend to visit the shops a couple of times a week to do sporting bets (no more than €5-€10 a week). Not that I'm ever going to get a mortgage or anything :pac:

The shops are very grim. Full of middle aged losers that hang around the place for hours on end. Id have my bets picked out, hit the betting machines and get the hell out of there. There is usually a smoking man or a Staffordshire bull terrier parked at the entrance to navigate yourself around.

I'm no high achiever in life but I actually do feel a little bit embarrassed being in the place. I hate bumping into people I know.

Collie D · 21-08-2019 8:29pm

somesoldiers wrote: »

Brother in law manages a “casino” they think they are in Las Vegas, dark holes, “members only”, “comping” tea and sandwiches & they regularly get take aways in for the clients to keep them gambling, roses for the ladies on Valentines Day... whatever chance punters have on the 2:15 at Pontefract they have sod all chance on a roulette machine rigged to pay out 1 in 10.

They have gone 24 hour recently, every town in the country has them now -a scourge

Not going to get into the rights and wrongs of gambling but a casino doesn’t need to rig a roulette wheel in order to win. I’d say it’s very rare.

BDI · 21-08-2019 8:31pm

Collie D wrote: »

Not going to get into the rights and wrongs of gambling but a casino doesn’t need to rig a casino wheel in order to win. I’d say it’s very rare.

It’s basic maths. Over the course of the day it makes a profit.

Collie D · 21-08-2019 8:32pm

BDI wrote: »

It’s basic maths. Over the course of the day it makes a profit.

Exactly. But the post I quoted said it was rigged to pay out 1 in 10.

BDI · 21-08-2019 8:34pm

Collie D wrote: »

Exactly. But the post I quoted said it was rigged to pay out 1 in 10.

Maybe the odds are. Machines are rigged to pay out a percentage of takings. It says it on them.

somesoldiers · 21-08-2019 8:52pm

Collie D wrote: »

Not going to get into the rights and wrongs of gambling but a casino doesn’t need to rig a roulette wheel in order to win. I’d say it’s very rare.

It’s not a wheel it’s a machine, they can set it to pay out as often as they like. It might not be 1/10 am not privy to how they have it programmed

2Mad2BeMad · 21-08-2019 9:00pm

somesoldiers wrote: »

It’s not a wheel it’s a machine, they can set it to pay out as often as they like. It might not be 1/10 am not privy to how they have it programmed

on the machines maybe,
but an actual roulette table it does not work like that. You can't rig it (well you can but you'd get found out very quickly)

It works off gravity the machine spins but the ball is thrown into it.

odds are still against you as long as the green 0 is there, some places even have 2 green 0s xD

BrokenArrows · 21-08-2019 9:10pm

There are 3 bookies in my village with a population of only a few thousand. They are a horrible drain on the local economy and only got permission to build because of stupid historical planning rules and the fact that the village is split down the middle between two councils.

Every day it's full of the permanently unemployed spending the tax payers money gambling.

I think there needs to be a ban on gambling for those on the dole.

Went into a bookies today

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