http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/11/ladbrokes-accused-child-gamblers I would only use a betting shop nowadays if I was really getting stuck into something and I have to split my stake so the world of the bookies is fairly alien to me. The report seems well founded with a legit source. Have any on the board seen underage kids being allowed to bet in shops? Have you seen or suspected money laundering?
I think bookmakers on the high street are actually seated between their original place and what used to be called an amusement arcade. I only venture in every so often if out and about and wanting to watch a particular race, when I do however it seems the machines are breeding like rabbits and are always occupied whilst fewer and fewer people approach the counter for an actual bet. I do see some young lads using the machines and although I would not claim them to be underage they certainly must be near the line. I feel that the machines must be the only thing that make a physical shop profitable as most even semi serious punters would have online accounts which offer best odds guaranteed which is something I don't believe any shop does yet. I also believe that the shops wet themselves if a punter wants £200 on anything nowadays also and have to phone home.
i frequent my local shops enough to know what goes on there. There is a strict age policy, that they all seem vigorous to enforce, however that may well be different elsewhere....as for money laundering, where do you start.. i see chinese gamblers, dressed in pretty drab clothes, worn shoes , literally losing hundreds every day--spoke to some staff, they concured that many have been losing thousands,over a period of time, speak virtually no english, yet are back every day with wads of cash. You can all speculate as to the source of this money, it certainly isn't wages! maybe thats why fried rice is pushing £5 a portion !
I cannot tell a lie. I was an underage gambler. Bookies are pretty miserable places these days as regards the people you see there. Just pop in to see a race. Must also admit the picture alongside the article of the Artist in Red Square made my eyes water!
Got 2 friends that are Shop Managers and they have to clamp down on everything with regards to age restriction due to the fact that the liability is now on the individual (i.e Shop Manager) and not the Bookmaker (i.e high street Bookmaker). I heard some horror stories from these 2 about certain shops in my area where by 4/5 even 6 people have been potted from individual shops for serving underage "punters". Roughly 60/70% of a shop's profit comes from the machines. Hence the reason why they are open till 10pm at night, even when there is no friggin racing on! It's a sad state of affairs, but the bookies have latch onto the fact young lads lapping up the machines not the racing.
I use to go to Ladbrokes when i was a young 16. May have even been 15 the first few times. However i have been asked for ID when in a town center, even in the last few years. Hardly use them now a days but would imagine alot of what is said about money laundering happens 10 fold.
I like to visit mt local bookie occasionsally chat with theone or two of the regs but predominately i think bookies are used for football the amout of people who come in and do a football accy put 5 pounds in the machines then walk out! Or it is full of old people (the one nr my work anyway) on a mid week lunctime but i dont thinlunderage happens alot! Quite abit of people tho that put bets on a second before the off then if it looses just run out and i mean alot of money put on! They have pictures of these men in most shop!
I guess I should come clean and say that I had my first bet under the legal age, the week before my eighteenth birthday. That was in the local independent bookmaker a mile from school. When that was taken over by one of the big multiples a few years later, I ended up working with the owner for one of the other high street chains and still know him today! I use betting shops all the time and can report the same scene that others have highlighted. There are four or five gaming machines in each office and the players are all young. When somebody new comes in, one of the staff comes out from behind the counter and asks them for proof of age. That is all they can be expected to do. If the law is framed in such a way that the staff at this level are culpable, that is clearly another bad law. It would be almost impossible for shop staff to recognize money laundering activities. Those doing the money laundering may not be doing so in the cleverest way to avoid detection (according to the article) but one suspects that drug traffickers et al do not have their way of life tattooed across their foreheads. If I were trying to launder money, I would do small amounts in a number of places to make it less detectable. If the bookmakers have CCTV and their head office security staff are willfully ignoring suspicious activity that is a matter for the authorities. Regarding Chinese gamblers, I know from a couple of visits to Hong Kong that the Chinese are gambling addicts. I have been to Happy Valley a couple of times and the eight storey grandstand must be the largest such facility in horseracing. If somebody could open up mainland China to Ladbrokes and William Hill, their shares would rocket quicker than Twitter because that would be a license to print money (unlike social media). I do not have any online betting accounts because those of you that have them will find that if you win too much too often, your account will be closed. In the days before the internet, punters with phone credit accounts would find the same. At the moment the various online bookmakers are engaged in a battle to attract new punters because the internet has low overheads and, therefore, better profits. That is why William Hill has been on an international acquisition binge in recent years to become dominant in the market. You will usually find in the Racing Post that when features such as Sports Betting recommend a bet, the odds being given are often “online only”. I have been in to Coral offices a couple of times in recent weeks to be told that the price is not available in their shops. So I put those football bets on at William Hill (better “in shop” price than Coral) so they made the money. Looking at the problem of underage gambling generally, this is the direct result of more than thirty years of legislation by various governments that have created the National Lottery, which can advertise and sell scratch cards; and have allowed bookmakers to advertise in their own office windows and in the media. I have nothing against liberalization per se but there does appear to be a lack of checks and balances.
I go in Coral all of the time, two particular shops one near work and one near home and to be fair they are usually pretty strict asking for ID and telling those who haven't any to leave
I use ladbrokes and Hills sometimes when they are top price as the shops are a short walk away, the Ladbrokes is a decent shop, the Hills is a dive as its in a slightly worse area. Last time I was in Hills I was putting 200 on Its A Dundeel for the Cox Plate, some arsehole playing the machine aggressively shouting at the top of his voice "yass I won a pound". The staff look demented. I dont stand in bookies anymore, used to when I was younger but its annoying when your having it on something and there is nicker men galore either willing it to fall or telling everyone how well its going usually followed by it finding nothing or not getting a run. I was always the only young person betting on the horses, mostly old guys from the pub next door. That was before the machines really came in and now there is always young guys and girls on them anytime im in, id say a very very small minority of them are dealers cleaning cash. You want to go over and say "are you ****ing stupid? you cannot win on that money printer." I think people always hear the story of somebody they know who won 1200 quid or something and thats why they start on them, they dont hear how the majority of those winners lost the 1200 in half an hour and then gave them another 400 within 15 mins. I dont really see any underagers in those bookies so I cant comment on that, a few times ive been asked by wee guys to put coupons on outside.
