| Paul Merson - Gambling and me 21:32 - Oct 11 with 5840 views | BlueandTruesince82 |
Interesting watch, not caugh all of it. Merson, John Hartson, Keith Gillespie and Scott Davies lost over 15 million between them
Gillespie says Alex Fergurson had him down the bookies as 16 yo putting bets on.
Football has really taken far to long to wake up to the impact it has on so many players |  |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 12:49 - Oct 12 with 1691 views | itfcjoe |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 09:51 - Oct 12 by textbackup |
And like merson said ‘they warn you to stick to limits, a compulsive gambler just isn’t going to listen to that tiny piece of advice’
The poor girl on that program that saw her (past away) husbands emails after he’d died, and he was getting emails from gambling companies saying ‘you havent deposited with us for a while so lose this months bonus’
They are proper cnts |
The Chief Exec of Bet365, who is the SToke owner, Denise Coates, paid herself a salary of £500m last year.
That's before you look at share options, benefits, pensions, etc - salary of £10m a week |  |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 13:31 - Oct 12 with 1630 views | The_Romford_Blue |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 12:33 - Oct 12 by Basuco |
The big question is, when does "enjoying a bet" become "a regular gambler" become "a problem gambler". I have known three people who have bet on the horses daily , but they all used to keep a log each year to see if they are financially up or down on the year. All three used to roughly break even each year, one was a daily "work watcher" on Newmarket heath, knew all the trainers and many jockeys and stable staff and still only broke even. That was when knowing only 2 or 3 horses in each race could win. |
It’s known that 95% make a loss or will only be level from betting. Only 5% make a profit. I’m just lucky (well no that’s not entirely fair to myself) that I’m in the 5. Hard work, rigorous form study and full understand of odds.
I regularly bet on things I don’t think will win if they’re clearly value in my book. That might be a greyhound at 6/1 that I make 7/2 or a cricket team that I make 5/4 but are available at 7/4. You just need to be smart with your percentage and profit margins whilst remaining within your limits. Sadly, it’s hard for a minority to know what theirs are until it’s too late. [Post edited 12 Oct 2021 13:33]
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 13:40 - Oct 12 with 1610 views | Guthrum |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 12:33 - Oct 12 by Basuco |
The big question is, when does "enjoying a bet" become "a regular gambler" become "a problem gambler". I have known three people who have bet on the horses daily , but they all used to keep a log each year to see if they are financially up or down on the year. All three used to roughly break even each year, one was a daily "work watcher" on Newmarket heath, knew all the trainers and many jockeys and stable staff and still only broke even. That was when knowing only 2 or 3 horses in each race could win. |
I knew a retired couple (they're both gone now) who used to bet on horses every day. Only small amounts, often on accumulators. They had the occasional decent win, paid for a few nights out. But it was much a way of keeping their minds active, studying the form and following particular jockeys or trainers. Also something to look forward to each day, finding out the results. |  |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 14:03 - Oct 12 with 1572 views | Ryorry |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 13:40 - Oct 12 by Guthrum |
I knew a retired couple (they're both gone now) who used to bet on horses every day. Only small amounts, often on accumulators. They had the occasional decent win, paid for a few nights out. But it was much a way of keeping their minds active, studying the form and following particular jockeys or trainers. Also something to look forward to each day, finding out the results. |
It was always the "playing detective" element (and beating the professionals who charged big bucks for their tips) which attracted me & my £0.50 e/w! singles, doubles & accas.
Lost interest when the pandemic started - absence of crowds & no atmosphere just made all sport uninteresting/unexciting to me. Not gone back to racing either, just too big a gobbler of time that I don't have to work out the angles. |  |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 14:20 - Oct 12 with 1547 views | Ryorry |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 08:05 - Oct 12 by textbackup |
I watched that program lastnight, and whilst I felt for them guys, and anyone that’s addicted to gambling the only thing I took from it was how fcking grateful I am to have the dad I have.
I remember as a kid asking for a quid to play the fruity, his reply ‘what a waste of money’
I remember the grand National being on TV as a kid and we were given £1 to bet with, being told that we probably wouldn’t win as so many horses were running and we wouldn’t see that £1 again.
And football bets, never ever saw him make one.
Things like that have always stuck in my head, and gambling on anything, IMO, is just a waste of time money and effort. [Post edited 12 Oct 2021 9:02]
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Our Mum took us to Epsom races as a summer hol treat when I was about 10. She bought a screw of paper tip from a tout outside the gate for a shilling (about 5p) and the tip won, so we went up by about 4 shillings - but then went and blew all those winnings on subsequent races!
Lesson learned - as it was when parents introduced me & bro to 1/4 glasses of beer or wine with meals occasionally when we were about 11 & 13, and Dad told us the only time he'd ever got truly drunk he was so violently, horribly sick he never risked doing it again. I never forgot that. | |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 14:26 - Oct 12 with 1532 views | Ryorry |
"Merce" also spoke about his addiction very openly & movingly on the various ITV 'Harry's Heroes' there have been over the years. Good to see him get so much support, and also give support to others.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10063228/ | |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 14:44 - Oct 12 with 1510 views | Illinoisblue |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 07:08 - Oct 12 by The_Romford_Blue |
I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a horror story as gambling in my case (as someone who bets tens of thousands a year) is a case of understanding my points system and knowing that there will be big losers as well as the big winners.
The most obvious example of one that were a huge kick in the stomach were Benie Des Dieux falling at the last when 10 lengths clear at the Cheltenham Festival. I’d been backing her for literally the whole year and her fall was a swing of about £5,000. What hurt a bit more was that she was my favourite horse in training and I was stood by the last hurdle about 30 feet away just praying she’d get over it, and she didn’t. I was most relieved to see her get up to be honest. A few moments after watching her gallop away, it hit me that the bets I’d placed all year were now losers. I took 10/15 minutes to walk away and get over that and then get my head screwed on for the next race. That’s the important thing for gamblers in my opinion.. being able to let each bet be on merit rather than changing stakes after a big loss or a big win. The race after Benies fall was a handicap and probably my smallest bet of the entire meeting. I’d had something like £35 antepost and £30 on the day at an average price of 6/1 (A Plus Tard in the novice handicap if I remember correctly). I knew even if the lad won (which he did coincidentally), I was looking at not even £400 just minutes after being a hurdle away (she fell because she saw a shadow before the hurdle apparently) from 5k. But it was a new race, a new bet and a fresh bet. You can’t go chasing that 5k back. It’s gone. I think if there was one thing I’d try to coach people if they wanted to start betting, it would be to treat each bet as separate entities and ignore all previous winners/losers you’ve had that day/week/month.
One other potentially unlucky bet i have that’s still running but is a loser is a £1 free bet 20-fold I did in June on the big UFC fights of the year. At 3,800/1, it’s had 16 of them go so far (including two void postponed fights) and just one loser. Omar Morales. He was winning the fight before slipping and being caught in a submission at the end of the penultimate round. If the last 4 win (the last four combined are just 7/1), i’ll consider that an unlucky loser.
You win some, you lose some.
My life isn’t for everyone. Or for the majority. And I wouldn’t ever suggest it as a lifestyle choice because there’s enough examples like Paul Merson. You’re more likely to become Paul Merson than me. Because gambling is incredibly difficult to remain subjective and disciplined. And they’re the two things you need most. |
Appreciate the honesty, rommers |  |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 15:36 - Oct 12 with 1466 views | JammyDodgerrr |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 12:16 - Oct 12 by Parky |
A good programme and fair play to Merson and the others for opening up and trying to sort themselves out.
What doesn’t sit right with me however, Merson was blaming and bad mouthing all the bookies [and rightly so in a lot of cases] but he sits on the adverts for Sky Bet and no doubt gets paid to do so. |
THink it's something he is looking to get out of, but obviously all been recorded and presumably a lot of it is a condition for his job on SSN. He talks about it briefly on the Guardian Football Weekly they did and he talks about it more in the book supposedly. |  |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 16:14 - Oct 12 with 1416 views | J2BLUE |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 23:41 - Oct 11 by Illinoisblue |
I’m sure sitters and rommers can lead the way here but what are your gambling horror stories? Any near misses on a big Acca?
My one standout horror memory is me and a mate chucking 100 quid each on Inter to beat Salernitania (sp?) in Serie A in the mid 90s. Inter were evens for the win. Easy money, right? 0-0 fooking draw. Hundred quid was a lot back then.
On the plus side me and same mate once took a sicky to go the races at Fakenham one Friday afternoon. 5 winners out of 7. Lovely jubbly. |
Surprised this post hasn't attracted any criticism to be honest. A thread about gambling addiction and you're asking for near misses? Really? |  |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 16:19 - Oct 12 with 1408 views | The_Romford_Blue |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 16:14 - Oct 12 by J2BLUE |
Surprised this post hasn't attracted any criticism to be honest. A thread about gambling addiction and you're asking for near misses? Really? |
Maybe I’m naive but I didn’t read it with any malice from IB. My reply certainly wasn’t meant to cause any issue either.
Now you say it, I guess I can see why it’s perhaps abit inappropriate for the thread but I’m sure it was any more than that though. | |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 17:42 - Oct 12 with 1346 views | J2BLUE |
Just watched it. Really good hard hitting but incredibly sad programme. Huge respect to Merson and the others. | |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 19:29 - Oct 12 with 1288 views | textbackup |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 16:14 - Oct 12 by J2BLUE |
Surprised this post hasn't attracted any criticism to be honest. A thread about gambling addiction and you're asking for near misses? Really? |
surprised anyone could even remotely find offence in this to be honest.
only a questions isn't it. and as far as anyone knows, these two being asked aren't on their arses with crippling debts. |  |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 20:43 - Oct 12 with 1238 views | strikalite |
The telling stat was that 55.000 kids under 16 are already addicted to gambling....
No doubt the bookies would still rinse them even if they knew... |  | | |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 20:45 - Oct 12 with 1235 views | The_Romford_Blue |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 19:29 - Oct 12 by textbackup |
surprised anyone could even remotely find offence in this to be honest.
only a questions isn't it. and as far as anyone knows, these two being asked aren't on their arses with crippling debts. |
I assumed I was asked because I’ve lived off the profits in the past quite comfortably. Which also means you’re going to have big losers as well. Part and parcel.
IB isn’t the type to fish so I’m sure it wasn’t mean spirited towards anyone.
As for the rest of the thread, interesting to see that tw*t Hartson was one of them mentioned as having a huge problem. Completely irrelevant to the thread but now he’s mentioned.. He owes me an apology still for something when I was a kid and he was presenting the trophies to all of us at a tournament in Yarmouth. The pr*ck decided to humiliate me (I was about 12) on the stage in front of hundreds of people after my manager dared me to do the old ‘pretend handshake’ on him when receiving my trophy. Hartson decided that was a good moment to snatch the trophy back off me, turn his back to me and push me off the stage. The camera on the big screen apparently really showed I’d been embarrassed. Afterwards he refused to engage in any conversation (even after my other manager gave me a b0llocking for it - unaware the other manager had dared me to do it) or accept my apology but instead getting one of his assistants/runners to pass me the trophy as he walked off ignoring me. Always thought he was a nasty c**t after that. Considering I was a kid probably overexcited to be meeting a professional footballer (not that I knew who he was anyway), I thought it was quite the spiteful move. And I still do. | |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 20:47 - Oct 12 with 1226 views | The_Romford_Blue |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 20:43 - Oct 12 by strikalite |
The telling stat was that 55.000 kids under 16 are already addicted to gambling....
No doubt the bookies would still rinse them even if they knew... |
It’s quite poor too when you’re reminded that some of us are actually restricted with half the bookies around for being in the green.
They’ll happily rinse problem gamblers but will suspend or restrict anyone who’s making profit. They don’t even hide it. It’s quite poor when you think about it. | |
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| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 20:54 - Oct 12 with 1209 views | textbackup |
| Paul Merson - Gambling and me on 13:40 - Oct 12 by Guthrum |
I knew a retired couple (they're both gone now) who used to bet on horses every day. Only small amounts, often on accumulators. They had the occasional decent win, paid for a few nights out. But it was much a way of keeping their minds active, studying the form and following particular jockeys or trainers. Also something to look forward to each day, finding out the results. |
my mates grandad done/does this still..... £2 a day he'll do on maybe 8 races, the walk up the bookies in the fresh air, a beer in pub after hes bet, then home to watch the races | |
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