'Consultation over the Gambling Introductory Offer Loopholes board' blog discussion

JimmyTheWig

Anonmouse wrote: »

THIS THIS AND THIS AGAIN.

Thanks.

Those of us who don't MB can talk sense too!

chachi

Back from a long hiatus for a brief visit ...

As someone pointed out on the blog post, there are so many ways you can "follow the rules" and get shafted these days

It is not like it was back in the day and the entire PRS debacle IMO should be the last straw.

Close it down, no phased shutdown as such is needed, 90 odd percent of these threads are well google-cached anyway so what's the need?

roscoe3

tobiascurious wrote: »

I am all for advantage play and low risk offers. But Martin insists he wants it to be risk free and unfortunately it isn't!! Because bookies can and do go under!! Things can and do go wrong at the exchanges!! A lot of it is low risk, hardly any of it is risk free

I hate it when people say "it is that simple", but it really is "that simple"!!

I suppose if you take the term literally then the forum isn't risk-free, sort of in the same way crossing the road isn't risk free. That's an extreme example, of course, but if you do this sensibly and understand the concept then it becomes as risk-free as most other money-saving(making) techniques.

misskool

Offers come and go and change in their terms and complexity. You can't police for everyone/everything.

If it still helps people make money, then why not? If someone takes the trouble to learn and check and don't get carried away, its a much easier way to make spare money than carboots/ebay/surveys.

Tim_L

super_reds wrote: »

We wouldn't be in this position if Tim was a Board Guide now, 100% sure and similarly PRS would not have happened. Personally didn't particularly like the chap but he knew his onions.

Nice of you to say that, but frankly you would be in the same position. The issue with the board at the time of FGS and since was simply that people thought they were operating in a safe bubble and they could get away with anything, and to be brutally honest there wasn't a lot of knowledge on the board.

And if PRS is any guide, that situation hasn't changed much.

Remember, at the time I was BG I was running at basically professional levels - not at the top of the tree but a branch a decent way up. I certainly did know my stuff and I was sitting on tens of thousands of pounds of profit a year, so I could afford to sail fairly close to the wind. For people doing basic matched betting, the best advice was always given - don't follow the mob into a dodgy book, keep away from horse racing and tennis, don't put yourself at risk with multiple accounts, don't take unnecessary risks.

The problem was (and PRS would suggest is) that many of the people doing medium advanced matched betting became over confident and borderline c0cky and would lead people onto dangerous ground because they felt they had a God given right to discuss it in what was essentially the nursery playground. Discuss more complicated things by all means between yourself - I was, on IRC channels - but for f's sake not in front of people for whom losing 50 quid is a disaster.

I haven't been near a bookmaker site for a couple of years and I feel I'm well out of it. I look back at the people I was working with, and to be honest I see glassy eyed obsession and near psychosis in some cases. I've seen nice people turn into monsters, and I don't exclude myself from that analysis. I'm sorry if I was rude, I don't doubt that was true, but that is the nature of the beast as you do this more and more intensively. It's a very competitive and very hard edged world, and you haven't the time or inclination to be patient with others.

The issue with keeping the board open or not is complex, but on balance I'd close it. There are other places to go for the information and to chat, and the proximity issue where you're somewhere close to boards where often not particularly shrewd people are going for advice on financial problems is to my mind the overriding one. I always rather enjoyed the fact that young mothers were making some spare cash at the bookies' expense for their children or families, and that's why I always argued in favour of the board at a time when frankly it was causing me more grief than it brought direct benefit. But the thought that bad or malicious advice might cause someone in that situation to lose a lot of money was and is terrifying.

meher

don't mess about with him ^ he has lady bodyguards



like tutankhamun had :snow_grin

thelawnet

Tim_L wrote: »

The problem was (and PRS would suggest is) that many of the people doing medium advanced matched betting became over confident and borderline c0cky and would lead people onto dangerous ground because they felt they had a God given right to discuss it in what was essentially the nursery playground. Discuss more complicated things by all means between yourself - I was, on IRC channels - but for f's sake not in front of people for whom losing 50 quid is a disaster.

A fair point. The issue is that Martin is only happy with risk-free.

That's fine, but the point is when you've done a few risk-free offers, and made a fair bit of £££, the 'risk-free' principles are no longer the same.

For someone who has never gambled, and wants to make a profit, then starting off with £10 is sensible. For someone with £10,000 or more banked from it, risking £100 is in fact no risk at all.

The other issue is for you if you are doing it seriously, it's not particularly in your interests to train people how to hoover up the £10 and £20s.

So you end up with a forum where people have began as risk-free, made money, evolved into sharks, with thousands banked from it, and they are the ones supposed to babysit people who've been told that you can make risk-free cash, who can't really afford to lose £100. Who else is going to teach them?

To take a simple example, it often makes sense to back/lay at relatively long odds, but this will require £££ that aren't within the scope of someone coming from the normal MSE fare of Burger King vouchers and reusing teabags.

And when you consider the increasing antipathy of operators to people trying to skim off their bonuses, it's not really as risk-free and newbie friendly as this site's ethos would imply.

The issue with keeping the board open or not is complex, but on balance I'd close it. There are other places to go for the information and to chat, and the proximity issue where you're somewhere close to boards where often not particularly shrewd people are going for advice on financial problems is to my mind the overriding one.

Exactly.

Hey_Dude

I have a sinking feeling about where this is going to end up.

I've always been with MSE since I started MBing 2 and a bit years ago....with 'hoping for the best and planning for the worst' in mind if the worst does happen and I wish to continue to associate with a community that mirrors MSE in terms of tips and heads up to offers where do I go?

Any recommendations would be welcome.

lolat332

RebekahR wrote: »

. It is NOT a quick fix it is similar to a job. You have study, train yourself, and then put it all into practice.

i think that is a very good point, it does require some arithmetical ability, financial literacy , and spreadsheet skills and i think some people coming onto the board either can't be bothered to acquire these or in fact are not able to.

BTW I've just had my best week ever in MB career, with offers and sharbs, and (what was pure chance ) the consolation cashback for coral football which was a nice bonus.

JimmyTheWig

Just had a thought...

Is there a way that the site could make money from referals to Betfair (without restricting cashback, etc, that people currently get)?
I'm talking only Betfair at this point in time, not any of the other bookies.

My thinking is that the general case is...
Bookie X has an offer.
You bet on something happening at Bookie X.
You bet against that same thing happening at Betfair.
Win or lose it doesn't matter.
So you make a profit because of the offer from Bookie X. Bookie X is down because of Matched Betting.

So there is no mileage in getting referal links to Bookie X, as we are costing them money.
But the bet with Betfair is just a regular bet with Betfair.
I believe, in general, Betfair makes money from Matched Betters. In which case there is scope for MSE to make money out of refering Matched Betters to Betfair.

If the board could generate revenue in this way it could fund a member of the team to be trained up in it and police it.