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

JezR

The dictionary definition of gambling is to take a risky course of action with the hope of a desired result. This covers putting money into stocks and shares that go down or up as much as the favourite at the 2.30 at Ascot. What the degree of risk or certainty might be is another thing.

Kaiser_Almond

I just wanted to add my opinion as I have found the GIOL board to be a friendly and helpful place for several years and I think that it would be a huge shame if it was closed.

I suppose that what I don't really understand after reading Martin's post is why things are any different now from what they were a few years ago. There have always been complex and non risk free offers around. In fact, I have managed to avoid some of them purely because of the knowledgable and friendly people on the board pointing out the flaws & risks in what I thought were supposedly risk free offers.

Set against that, there are still lots and lots of strightforward offers from reputable bookies which are risk free and profitable to anyone who is prepared to put in a little time and effort to understand how matched betting works.

I had virtually no knowledge of gambling when I stumbled across the GIOL board a few years ago. However, there were copious warnings at the top of the board (as there are now) about how matched betting was only risk free if you understood it and put in the time to understand how it worked.

I read the excellent introductory guide several times until I understood the concept and then tentatively started to use the knowledge gained to take up some offers talked about on the board.

I was amazed by how reliable and profitable the system was. I started with £500 and in the last 4 years I have made at least £7000. I have never felt (or found) that I have taken any major risks (I am a risk averse person by nature).

No forum on matched betting is going to be perfect. Its very nature means that you will be opening accounts with a large number of bookies and this involves (and always has involved) some risk.

But the risk is always so much lower with the GIOL board around. There are many experienced, knowledgable and friendly people who can almost immediately tell you whether the bookie is reputable, spot any hidden terms and conditions you may have missed, assess how profitable the offer is likely to be etc.

Very occasionally, the overall advice will be wrong (the few examples where this has happened have been constantly referred to in this thread). However, I don't think this changes the overall fact that this is vastly outweighed by the incredibly good and helpful advice which is available.

Does this board have to be on MSE? In an ideal world, no. However, this is a world with a large number of dodgy websites trying to make you sign up with bookies just because they can make money off referral links (and slanting their advice accordingly). It surely makes sense for MSE (in this area as in many other areas of money saving) to be a bastion of impartial and objective advice.

I really feel that the GIOL board still serves this function for matched betting and it would be a big mistake for MSE to shut down a resource that has allowed so many people to make money they would never have otherwise.

jobbingmusician

It seems clear that the GIOL forum is well established, and that existing forum members can and will move to another forum if they have to. It would be nice if they could continue their discussions about what constitutes risk freeness, and how to extract profit from more complex offers, in a locked area of the site.

The people who will really be disadvantaged if the board is shut are the very people Martin is trying to help - beginners who could really do with the low growing fruit.

I repeat my suggestion that GIOL is retained as a board to introduce people to the most basic offers: simple signups with the most established bookies. If this can be done alongside a more advanced, locked board to which people can 'graduate', great. If not, at least we are not stealing this very lucrative hobby from the MSE board.

cornerclose

Tim_L wrote: »

Probably what would have happened is that I'd have tried to persuade people not to go in, there would be arguments from a few board regulars on the basis that I had done this that and the other in the past, then the awkward troll squad would have turned up with comments about FGS or things they'd found at 192.com, I'd have lost patience and locked the thread or deleted it, someone else would start up sniping about inconsistent moderation in another thread, there'd be a some more afters about discussing casino bonuses and I'd ask myself why I was bothering and beggar off.

Which in essence was what happened.

Hi Tim, good to see you are still around. I remember this sort of situation well.

Having learned a lot from this board 6 years ago, I'd be sad to see it go, although I don't visit it much nowadays. I agree that a lot of the offers have changed and are a lot less easy now, and I can see the dilemma. There is good money to be made even now, but the temptation to branch off into the more risky aspects once the easy offers are done is huge.

My fear is that if the board is closed, those people who would have come here for advice and help will go elsewhere, where the main focus might be on "use our affiliate link" rather than whether the bookie concerned is safe. The information on the GIOL board about what is NOT safe is probably more valuable than most of the rest of it put together. It would be a shame if all that accumulated knowledge was lost.

orcocan

why was my post deleted?

savingholmes

I made hundreds of pounds when I first joined through the gambling loopholes deals at cashback sites and by cashback offers at sites themselves. I still earn amazon vouchers at free bingo sites with no risk whatsoever. I have never got seriously into matched betting though as I found it too difficult to understand. I use the Make £10 a day challenge for an easy insight into these. I am too afraid of being sucked into "real gambling" to have experimented much beyond that.

We do regularly read stories on the DFW forum from current or recovering gamblers - and their needs need to be taken account of too. We do need to consider where to draw the line tho - as it could be argued that the grabbit boards and shopping boards also lead people astray and encourage additional spending albeit on alleged bargains. A lot of my debt came from fritter spend on alleged bargains....

I think if it stays - it needs to be clear that the only safe money is the reward you get from a cashback site for joining - and there have been occasions when these haven't paid out. Also some sites wagering requirements are up to 10 times the original deposit and bonus - and if you win from a bonus you often can't withdraw and this might even increase the amount you have to wager before withdrawal. When I first joined MSE the GIOL board was a lifesaver for easy extra money pretty much risk free

I think it would be a shame to withdraw the board - but would understand if you did

tobiascurious

orcocan wrote: »

why was my post deleted?

It could be that people didn't like what you wrote and clicked the spam button. Was your post controversial or provocative?

orcocan

probably controversial, isnt this the point of the consultation? Or do we just have to pretend it's all hunky dory?

something tells me that "people" is actually the board guide...

emcwill

She admitted no such thing! What she 'admitted' was that she had a friend who was wheelchair-bound and could not easily leave the house, but who was also a matched bettor and had been a sharber when physically able. JM placed bets for that friend using the friend's OO card with the staff's knowledge she was doing so, and passed the profits to the cardholder. How is that fraud?! Is it fraud if I ask my mate to get me something I need whilst she's at Tesco and give her my clubcard to make sure I don't lose out on points?

stinky_daddy

1212121 wrote: »

In fact a large proportion of the posts involves people operating other people's bank and bookmaking accounts to defraud cash for themselves.

Would you care to define a large proportion, as I believe you would have a hard time substansiating this claim?