Betting shops/betting in general

[ALL SAINTS]

Now I like a bet like lots of people,but all this expansion of the Betting Industry at such severe economic times really pisses me off.You can't even watch a football match on the telly without being bombarded with odds at the half time adverts.When I was young(a long time ago) there was possibly one betting shop on each high street,and a new one was only allowed to open when an old one closed down ,and that Licence was transferred. Now they are everywhere,usually in poorer neighbourhoods.They said The National Lottery was a tax on poverty, a ticket to escape from despair.

It's sad to see such de-regulation, but while you have a Government that looks after their big business mates and bankers( and allowing rogue Companies to charge 1000's of % Interest on loans to desperate people) things are never going to change.

[Furmedge]

If you look on the high streets nowadays it's charity shops, betting shops, pound stores and pay day loans. On top of that we have half a million people visiting food banks to survive. It's probably the same in other countries but for me this country has gone to the fucking dogs.

[Bjornebye]

Bet you a grand it gets worse

[Paulie Dangerously]

I love the symbiotic triad you always see of:

 

------- Pub

-------/ \

Bookies - Chippy

 

They all feed off each other and people get trapped in the Bermupub Triangle

[RedKnight]

There are a lot of betting shops because of the fixed odds terminal. The law only allows four per premise so the general thinking is that the companies are opening as many as they can so they can have more terminals generating more income. I think they account for more than 50% of a betting shop's income these days.

 

As with all gambling people can be self excluded from premises if they have an addiction.

[Elmyn Noos]

Don't know what all the fuss is about surrounding betting shops. It's not like there's a shortage of shop space they are taking up is it? If the bookies wasn't there, chances are it would be another empty space to let.

 

Fuck the gambling addicts too. The weak fucks will always find a way to lose their money one way or another, so we shouldn't base any decisions on them.

 

Charity shops on the other hand are a fucking cancer on the high street. I'm sick of them. If I'm on my way home from the pub and bursting for a piss, I always make sure I drench a charity shop doorway, especially if it has bags of someone's unwanted crap dumped outside it. The High Street near me does have some great shops on it, but we must have a good half dozen or more shit-filled loser shops, staffed by people with too much spare time on their hands and empty lives, and patronised by the sort of people I'd really just rather avoid.

 

If you can't afford clothes at today's made-in-a-canton-sweatshop prices, just do the world a favour and top yourself please, you fucking shitkicker.

[SCOUSE TAPAS]

The only reason for a surge in bookie shops is to do with the roulette machines. The actual high street bookies was on a severe downward spiral until them machines came out. They saved many of the smaller shops from being phased out by the big four. Theres a lot more money that comes from them machines than from bets in the shops. Most people bet online now as you get better odds and can take a price and if the horse wins at bigger price you get paid out at the bigger price.

I think we are approaching the last generation of people using the shops to bet and as more and more younger people are using the online shops more it will probably lead to bookies as we know them disappearing.

Wouldn't surprise me to see some sort of terminal being put into pubs by bookies in which you can place a race bet on soon.

[Ezekiel 25:17]

It seems strange the government haven't done more to reign in the fixed odds terminals, I remember back in the day in a bookies there was the old fellas doing there bets, working out the tax, maybe a fruit machine, now it's full of young lads putting 100's and 100's into these things, in fact it's all walks of life, grim.

[Robbo29]

its all down to the relaxing of the Gaming Laws in general. worked in a casino in the eighties, we had 8 roulette tables, 4 blackjack tables and punto banco as well as 2 £100 jackpot machines. went in there last year, 2 roulette tables and 2 blackjack and christ knows how many slot machines. less staff needed and more money to be made on the machines

[halewood pete]

I like the odd bet,not as often now on horses, mainly the 49s and irish lottery,I go to William Hill in halewood village or the new ladbrokes in leathers lane shops. Cannot get my head around the virtual,computer generated horse racing though,I remember a young lad getting all excited watching the closing stages of a race,and I laughed and 'you know it's not real don't you?'he basically told me to piss off and that of course he knew,but he had real money on it! Fair comment I suppose (he won)

[RedKnight]

The other thing about the fixed odds terminals is that the maximum stake is a lot larger than fruit machines in arcades, bingo clubs and pubs. When you can stake £50 a spin then you're going to end up chasing your losses a lot more.

 

A lot of the laws have been relaxed but a lot of them were really out of touch with how gambling businesses are run. It's down to local councils granting premises licences to the bookies rather than the gambling act itself.

[Ted]

Those machines in the bookies are a joke. They know behind the counter as soon as you touch the button whether you've won or not.

[A Red]

We need mega Vegas casinos to re-energise cities like Liverpool

[Ezekiel 25:17]

Those machines in the bookies are a joke. They know behind the counter as soon as you touch the button whether you've won or not.

 

Seems legit.

[RedKnight]

I'm not sure exactly how fixed odds terminals work but usually with machines like that, the owners will be able to see what % payout they're at. That doesn't necessarily mean that they "know when they're going to pay out". That sounds like crank talk like "if I put money in it's note acceptor I won't win".

[VladimirIlyich]

I bet in the local bookies on the irish lottery but nothing else and only because other family members dont have computers to put their numbers on.

All other stuff is done online due to better odds and more variety of bets.

Ive bet on the slots a lot recently,minimum stakes and done pretty well to the tune of a couple of hundred quid.

They are very tempting though.

[Captain Turdseye]

The Chinese love the roullette machines as much as their women love Chinese food.

[RJ Fan club]

The Chinese love the roullette machines.

 

And flies crawling up a wall.