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FOBTs

R

Roy1983

Edward Sheringham
A hot potato in politics right now the FOBT machines in bookies. As you know I work for Hills and never touched them until 5/6 years ago. Anyway, on Friday I lost £650. I can remember off the top of my head another dozen occasions losing this amount (approx).

I once lost £4500.00 in 2 days. Admittedly, I'd won it online 3/4 days before and when the money cleared I went to the bank (3 doors along from the bookies obviously) and asked for it. Every penny of it. Ill never forget it was 23rd December 2011. As a hardened gambler I remember thinking 'This is the first Xmas in years ill actually be comfortable'

Missus wanted an iPad so thought I'd withdraw it (Why all of it ill never know) and get us both one. Walked out of the bank and the magnet that's always there pulled me into Ladcrooks. In I walk with £4500.00!!

Put £13.85 (the max) on the zero (which returns £498.60). My thinking was that it will come in early and I could win even more. It never. Plenty of 26's and 32's though (next door)

Anyway, a grand later and sense kicked in. Went into PC World and bought 1 iPad for the Missus. Went back into the same shop, same machine where OF COURSE 2 zeros were now on the history reel (played by someone else). Another grand in and I walked out. Next day the remaining £1500 went too.

On Friday, for those that know, I decided to put £1 on 0, 26 and 32 which are next to each other on the wheel. Odds of 35/1 for a single number so if I bet £3 and it came in on the first spin I'd win £36 or a £33 profit. Second spin I'd win £30, 3rd £27 etc... After 9 spins you have to increase each number to £2 (£6 per spin) to win £72 and increase it sufficiently to make a profit when they do come in. It's a fairly decent 'system' but needless to say once again it fudged me over on Friday with none of those 3 numbers coming in in approx 40 spins. 2 3's and 3 15's though (next door again)


Anyway, apart from to blow off some steam I'd like to advise people not to get involved in these things too heavily and also to explain why I will be laying off betting entirely for the foreseeable future and will be absent from the official betting thread.

I won't say how much debt I'm in right now but over the years I can REMEMBER losing £14k in these things and that's without all the little £50-200 losses added into the equation.

Thanks for reading :)
 
If you want to blow off steam mate go for a run it is cheaper and better for your long term health. I for example can think back 20 years to when i was in the boozer every night and i wish i had saved that money. My liver would be better and the is always something at some point down the line you could use that money for.
 
Yep. I said I wouldn't but my debts total £10k and I should have that in savings so that's a £20k turnover! I've got £5k in savings but I refuse to pay that off as a) it's taken me a few years and b) it's gotta contribute to my little boys future.

I'm a total **** but if I stop now ill be fine.
 
I've been gambling on these machines since I was 16-17 and it was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life.
Im now 21 and all my finances have to be taken care of by my mum. Its that pathetic.

I started work at the age of 16 on a decent wage. Very good for my age. All of my mates had fudged off the uni so I just found a local pub, became pals with all the regulars and eventually I was down there near enough every night of the week.
Problem is, this pub had a ladbrokes just over the road. I'd never played them before but in desperation and only with a tenner in my pocket I wanted more dough so I could spend more time in the boozer.

I walked out with £50 that day. Easy money I thought...

It escalated. No more was it a tenner. I'd lose that and start chasing it. A tenner became a tonne. A tonne eventually became a monkey, at its worst..

I once won £1600 from £100 in an hour. But of course that went back the next few days/weeks.
Going back to how I started, I now have to get a daily allowance to stop me gambling big money. But of course some days I risk it...

The papers are right. It is the crack cocaine of gambling.
 
Jesus fellas i am not joking or being sarky but i think you need to contact people with regards some help. No harm in saying we need help in life sometimes we all do at some point.
 
What's worrying is some people actually think there is a system to these machines that they can figure out. In reality, it's completely random.

I stick to betting on football and one off events like the national or Super Bowl. I like to think I know football and I have won as about as much as I have spent over my lifetime on gambling or not far off. Also, I only bet what I can afford to lose or what I am comfortable losing.
 
gambling is becoming an epidemic in this country and something needs to be done about it - i know people are responsible for their actions an all that but do we really need it to be shoved in our faces and so easily available ?

for a start there should be no advertising in the same way as there's no fag adverts anymore and there needs to be a much tougher restriction on the amount of betting shops allowed in one area. can't watch a game of football without seeing a hundred adverts for gambling or walk down the high street without passing 10+ bookies - it's fudging disgusting
 
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Also, how many betting companies are there these days? fudging hundreds!!

Ladbrokes, Coral, William Hill, Skybet, Betfred, Betbutler, Bet365, Paddy Power, Betfair. Sure I've missed loads.
 
I never got addicted to gambling thank GHod but I can see how and why people do and understand it totally.

I gamble a tenner on an accumulator a week. If I win I win big if I lose I lose minimal
 
BushHillSpurs said:
I've been gambling on these machines since I was 16-17 and it was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life.
Im now 21 and all my finances have to be taken care of by my mum. Its that pathetic.

I started work at the age of 16 on a decent wage. Very good for my age. All of my mates had fudged off the uni so I just found a local pub, became pals with all the regulars and eventually I was down there near enough every night of the week.
Problem is, this pub had a ladbrokes just over the road. I'd never played them before but in desperation and only with a tenner in my pocket I wanted more dough so I could spend more time in the boozer.

I walked out with £50 that day. Easy money I thought...

It escalated. No more was it a tenner. I'd lose that and start chasing it. A tenner became a tonne. A tonne eventually became a monkey, at its worst..

I once won £1600 from £100 in an hour. But of course that went back the next few days/weeks.
Going back to how I started, I now have to get a daily allowance to stop me gambling big money. But of course some days I risk it...

The papers are right. It is the crack cocaine of gambling.
Click to expand...

I should add some of my biggest wins as well as losses.

I remember turning £6 into £550, £10 into £1100 £40 into £1100 £12 into £800 as well as a lot of £100 into £600ish. My biggest ever win was £75 into £2800.00. And I've got none of that money now.

These roulette machines are disgusting.
 
DHSF said:
I never got addicted to gambling thank GHod but I can see how and why people do and understand it totally.

I gamble a tenner on an accumulator a week. If I win I win big if I lose I lose minimal
Click to expand...

Best way mate.
 
I don't see why it is the bookies fault that people don't know when to stop. I have sympathy with those who have a problem but you need to get help. Even as someone mentioned limiting the number of bookies in an area, that won't do anything to stop addicted gamblers. It's like only having one place to buy fags in each area, all the addicts will just go to that place. It won't help any.

If you can't walk past a bookies without going in and wasting your money then you need to get help. Thankfully some of you have. Would you say we should limit the numbers of pubs in one area because alcoholics can't stop their drinking? And let's be honest, even if there weren't any bookies then people would just play online.
 
Richie said:
I don't see why it is the bookies fault that people don't know when to stop. I have sympathy with those who have a problem but you need to get help. Even as someone mentioned limiting the number of bookies in an area, that won't do anything to stop addicted gamblers. It's like only having one place to buy fags in each area, all the addicts will just go to that place. It won't help any.

If you can't walk past a bookies without going in and wasting your money then you need to get help. Thankfully some of you have. Would you say we should limit the numbers of pubs in one area because alcoholics can't stop their drinking? And let's be honest, even if there weren't any bookies then people would just play online.
Click to expand...

See what you're saying but making something as addictive as gambling so readily available and 'normalized' as we have seen with the past decade or so just doesn't sit right. Tbh there's people a lot smarter than me that will argue the point a lot better but it's definitley a line of thought i agree with.


Roy - ever thought a change of career may be in order?
 
Roy1983 said:
I should add some of my biggest wins as well as losses.

I remember turning £6 into £550, £10 into £1100 £40 into £1100 £12 into £800 as well as a lot of £100 into £600ish. My biggest ever win was £75 into £2800.00. And I've got none of that money now.

These roulette machines are disgusting.
Click to expand...

add together all the numbers on a roulette wheel, 0-36, and you end up with a sum of 666 .....no sh!t I tell thee :eek:
 
I started a similar thread around 6 months ago on these machines and I'm glad they are now in the spotlight in the politics World.

I have a relative of mine (my old man) who spend around £20k over a 12 month period on these machines. Luckily he took the option of help rather than doing something drastic. Only since becoming clean has he now released his stupidity and seen the situation from a different perspective.

These machines are nothing but evil in EVERY sense of the word. I know people who work in bookmakers and I even know someone who worked as part of the company who has developed them. They are extremely high tech pieces of kit that are linked to a centralized computer system that communicates with a data center. Everything can be measured on them. The guy behind the counter knows exactly the ones paying out, how much money it's taken in and knows these are the money makers for the bookies.

When I place my football accumy on I see countless streams of 18 year olds on them. I constantly see people playing £100 a spin games. I have seen countless people putting a wedge of cash in them; one guy 2 weeks ago actually picked up a stool and smashed three of them out of pure frustration.

Some of the responses from my previous thread are 'people should control themselves' or 'people should know when to stop'... easy to say my friends but this is something you will never understand unless you have seen/done it firsthand.

Gambling VERY easily can turn into an addiction in the right environment and circumstances. It has been linked to a similar addiction to nicotine. People (many) lose families, houses and friends through these machines and what's the government doing? Supporting them as a source of income.

You can't go to a football game these days without being flooded with betting adverts. You can't flick over on TV at night without seeing a roulette wheel. What's this showing the younger generation?

America has banned online gambling for a reason. I also had a spell of gambling to which I have learnt from my father’s mistakes and closed all online betting accounts and now do £20 on a Saturday on the football when I can be bothered.

Gambling should not be easily accessible. It should require effort in making a person need to go to somewhere like a casino where they have to dress up and register to bet. Being allowed to blow £10,000 in a couple of hours on your local high street or in the comfort of your own home should be impossible.

People might say "well you can blow £10k on buying a TV online so what's the difference?" The difference is you gamble in the hope of making profit. It's incremental. It's a buzz. Ask anyone who has every gambled away more than their original intentions and they will respond in a similar manner or feeling depressed, idiotic and a need to try again at a later stage to try and recoup their loss.

All I can say is my middle finger goes to the bookies, the government and anyone who supports gambling as a good form of income to this country. It's a discussing business that feeds on the vulnerable and turns a blind eye to all the damage is causes.

Advice from me; do NOT touch them and warn others.
 
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