Betting with Recycled Money

I started about 45 years ago. I would go into a Ladbrokes and place a £1 Yankee (cost £11) and later I would usually go to collect any returns. They might say congratulations you have won £10 – wrong – I paid £11 to place the bet but I’m only collecting £10, so I have lost £1. Or you have won £106 – No – I won £95. Over the long term I was winning more than I was was losing but I wasn’t managing it very well. When I won I would treat myself usually to a takeaway, or something else I didn’t need to do. Sometimes, I would leave any returns (usually when the returns were less than £10) until the following week, meaning I didn’t have to find the full £11. For a time all (or none) of my selections were wining. I can remember1 4-week spell in particular. During the 1st week, all 4 came in giving me a return of £96, the next 2 weeks only 1 or less of my selections past the winning line 1st. I wasn’t too hopeful with my selections during the 4th week, they were all high prices but I only needed 2 of them to do the business to come away with a nice payday. But in the end I got 3 winners and a non-runner, giving me a return of £110. 

Later on I changed my bets. I started placing Lucky 15’s – now I only needed 1winner to get a return and the Bookies were giving bonus’s for 1 or all 4, winners. I reduced my stakes when I started basing my selections on televised races. My results didn’t look as good when I was basing my selections on the ITV7. When it went to Channel 4, my selections went back down to 4 again. They introduced a special bet which I occasionally used. I stopped using it but I later went back to using my version of what I thought it was doing. It was perm any 3 from 4 win patents plus an each way accumulator. This basically meant I was placing 3pt singles, 2pt doubles and a 1pt Trebles. And a 1pt ew accumulator – that part of the bet came in very useful once – it produced a return despite the fact that none of the horses won their respective races.

However, despite long-term winning through my bets, something wasn’t right. Further analysis revealed that I tended to win when I had got plenty of money in my bank account, usually every 4th week after being paid and lost when I needed the money to cover a bill. So I stopped placing bets. At a later stage I did have a credit account but I needed to potentially top up every fortnight, but that didn’t sit very well with being paid every 4 weeks. After a several years I started again but by now the bookmakers had introduced Debit accounts. I could put money in when I had to and take it out when it was needed. My wife didn’t like me betting but she didn’t stop what she saw a new she didn’t know the full extent. She would have had difficulty enforcing anything because her Sons spent a lot at the bookmakers – one of them is an addict – he is able to turn £200 in £2000 but is just as capable of turning £2000 into nothing. I could offer a lot more about his antics but I won’t because this post is about me. 

Although she didn’t know the full extent of my gambling, she/we often benefitted from it. Most of our spending pattern was decided by her. There were often times when she needed extra money for one reason or another and I was expected to find it. The bookmaking accounts came in vey useful to provide this money. I can remember once I found £3,37 I had forgotten in my Ladbrokes account, so I decided to place it all on a couple of horses but they both come in and over the next few weeks it went up above £50 before she needed a new influx of money. I don’t like taking money out of my accounts, which I usually do when they reach 3 figures, because it seems to start off a losing run. Currently I tend to place about £5 a day with SkyBet. As long as I place £25 a week, I get a £5 free bet on the following money. This £5 free bet has sometimes saved me the need to find any money to top up the account. But I think I will need to raid my account to cover a bill that needs to be paid next week but I will be able to replace the following week after I get paid, if need be. However, I don’t take money out of the account very often and put it back in less often which is why I call it recycled money. Tomorrow I will talk about my relationships pre-Lynn (all 3 of them)