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Tales of a retired betting shop manager.
arthur1962
Member Posts: 52
Where to start? , like most I’ve seen the rich lose thousands, hundreds of thousands! ( no discussion or want to know where cash came from in those days ) and I’ve seen the humble working man win thousands 👍.
Let’s have a little discussion on who was highest punter I’ve ever known, he came into the same shop 4/5 days a week, used to drop anything from 4k to 9k over the counter, always and in nothing other that £50 notes, yes highest punter but hadn’t a clue, let’s say he came in with 5k, first bet was 1k which lost, he would call up ask for his balance, 4k buddy ( no names used ) your cheating me was usual reply, you came in with 5 you’ve lost 1 you now have 4? Ah ok he would say.
On any winning day, few and far between but on winning days he would ask for balance, he was a great tipper when he actually won, let’s say his balance was £25,450, he’d say get me a CHEQUE ready tomorrow for £25 k share the rest between staff.
Not one penny in cash did he want or get, winnings was paid by Cheque, even in those days ( 20 years ago) we knew it was money laundering but shop was showing a profit from him alone ( obviously we had him monitored) of over £200,000 in just a 6 month period, it was all about cash and profit, not a care in the world where cash was coming from ????, obviously I knew but can’t divulge on here.
On other end of the spectrum, your Saturday punter, the £1.50 lucky 15 getting 4 winners and getting a few hundred quid back what a joy to pay them out, the lady with a £1.00 on 3 numbers on the Irish lottery winning £650.00, was like and probably was a fortune to them.
Then the introduction of the Machines, the roulette, slots, I worked a shop in central London, shops weekly take was £110,000 on average, £65,000 was generated by machines £45,000 over the counter, once the machine gave warning that a customer had over £1.000 in balance, keeping an eye on back office I watched it grow to £4,800 thinking I’ll need to go to the bank, about 40 minutes later I heard door open and customer was leaving, he actually said thank you, bye on way out, I thought I never heard ticket print, there was No ticket, lost the lot remember you could lose £300 per minute on roulette, £100 max spin every 20 seconds, guy lost almost £5 k and said thanks , bye, I had others who lost a tenner, complained machine was fixed ( why are you playing then ) and would go on smash machine up.
Hardest thing to explain to customers Rule 4, lol don’t even get me started, if you know then you can feel my pain, if you don’t know don’t ask lol.
Don’t get me wrong I loved the job when it was a bookies , ask a betting shop manager to price up a dog race to 115% over round where the fav is 1/1 and see the blank face, customer assistance nowadays not bookies.
I had cheats, I had chancers but where cash is involved you had them all, I was unlucky and had the shop robbed, not a nice experience, but I’ll take this away from it, after phoning police I called my district manager, told them shop had just been subjected to an armed robbery, not for a second or within the whole call did he ask if we were ok, how much did they get was words out his mouth, again it’s all about the cash.
And I’ll finish with possibly the funniest thing I heard in all my days, we opened a new shop, as a promotion we were offering Free £10 single bets, customer came in for his winnings after entering ( who wouldn’t) any way I handed over a nice new £20 note, he stopped looking at me saying, no I had a 2/1 winner, should be £30, explaining it was a Free bet, you don’t get the Stake, he tutted grabbed the £20 walking away saying Christ if I knew that I wouldn’t have put that on, lol just got £20 for nothing but still wasn’t happy, the joys of the let’s say old style betting shop manager, but as I worked in London if anyone ever asked what I done for a job then I worked in the City as a Sports Funds Investment Manager, but to you and me I was a humble betting shop bookie.
Let’s have a little discussion on who was highest punter I’ve ever known, he came into the same shop 4/5 days a week, used to drop anything from 4k to 9k over the counter, always and in nothing other that £50 notes, yes highest punter but hadn’t a clue, let’s say he came in with 5k, first bet was 1k which lost, he would call up ask for his balance, 4k buddy ( no names used ) your cheating me was usual reply, you came in with 5 you’ve lost 1 you now have 4? Ah ok he would say.
On any winning day, few and far between but on winning days he would ask for balance, he was a great tipper when he actually won, let’s say his balance was £25,450, he’d say get me a CHEQUE ready tomorrow for £25 k share the rest between staff.
Not one penny in cash did he want or get, winnings was paid by Cheque, even in those days ( 20 years ago) we knew it was money laundering but shop was showing a profit from him alone ( obviously we had him monitored) of over £200,000 in just a 6 month period, it was all about cash and profit, not a care in the world where cash was coming from ????, obviously I knew but can’t divulge on here.
On other end of the spectrum, your Saturday punter, the £1.50 lucky 15 getting 4 winners and getting a few hundred quid back what a joy to pay them out, the lady with a £1.00 on 3 numbers on the Irish lottery winning £650.00, was like and probably was a fortune to them.
Then the introduction of the Machines, the roulette, slots, I worked a shop in central London, shops weekly take was £110,000 on average, £65,000 was generated by machines £45,000 over the counter, once the machine gave warning that a customer had over £1.000 in balance, keeping an eye on back office I watched it grow to £4,800 thinking I’ll need to go to the bank, about 40 minutes later I heard door open and customer was leaving, he actually said thank you, bye on way out, I thought I never heard ticket print, there was No ticket, lost the lot remember you could lose £300 per minute on roulette, £100 max spin every 20 seconds, guy lost almost £5 k and said thanks , bye, I had others who lost a tenner, complained machine was fixed ( why are you playing then ) and would go on smash machine up.
Hardest thing to explain to customers Rule 4, lol don’t even get me started, if you know then you can feel my pain, if you don’t know don’t ask lol.
Don’t get me wrong I loved the job when it was a bookies , ask a betting shop manager to price up a dog race to 115% over round where the fav is 1/1 and see the blank face, customer assistance nowadays not bookies.
I had cheats, I had chancers but where cash is involved you had them all, I was unlucky and had the shop robbed, not a nice experience, but I’ll take this away from it, after phoning police I called my district manager, told them shop had just been subjected to an armed robbery, not for a second or within the whole call did he ask if we were ok, how much did they get was words out his mouth, again it’s all about the cash.
And I’ll finish with possibly the funniest thing I heard in all my days, we opened a new shop, as a promotion we were offering Free £10 single bets, customer came in for his winnings after entering ( who wouldn’t) any way I handed over a nice new £20 note, he stopped looking at me saying, no I had a 2/1 winner, should be £30, explaining it was a Free bet, you don’t get the Stake, he tutted grabbed the £20 walking away saying Christ if I knew that I wouldn’t have put that on, lol just got £20 for nothing but still wasn’t happy, the joys of the let’s say old style betting shop manager, but as I worked in London if anyone ever asked what I done for a job then I worked in the City as a Sports Funds Investment Manager, but to you and me I was a humble betting shop bookie.
Comments
@arthur1962
Great stories, thanks bud.
Presumably you started in the days of the old "Genie" settling machines, & Saturday afternoon was dominated by huge piles of slips for the ITV 7? White marker board (no TV's in those day) & Extel commentary with Dave Smith making it sound like they flashed across the line together, to keep the punters interested, next day you'd read in the Life "winning distance 4 lengths".
The legendary Barney Curley, had u any dealings with that Arthur