Category: FAQ

Did you know that just about 50% of the UK population gamble?

That’s lots of winners and losers.

But how do you win a million pounds with one pound? It sounds a challenge if not an impossibility. With the Lotto charging £2 a ticket, you’d need to share the top prize with a friend to even have any chance of winning big.

When it come to betting on horse racing the most likely chance of winning one million pounds for a solitary pound coin is with an accumulator. This bet puts all of your winnings on the next horse. So if you have a 10/1 winner, you’d have £11 going onto the next horse (that’s £10 winnings and your stake money of £1).

So if you had three 10/1 winners what would that win for your quid?

 

That would be £1210.

Not quite the million hey? The good thing about a win accumulator is that you can make as many selections as you wish. And each win means you have more and more money to put into your pocket.

The difficult part is finding all these winners.

In theory, the shorter the price of the horse you pick the better chance it has of winning. So you might be wise to consider how many favourites you would need to win consecutively to get to that million pounds.

This may seem a possibility although in practice it is probably impossible. If you bet your £1 on 21 horses priced even money you would be a millionaire.

This is how it works: £1, £2, £4, £8, £16, £32, £64, £128, £256, £512, £1024, £2048, £4096, £8192, £16384, £32768, £65536, £131072, £262144, £524288, £1048576

(I’ve just won a million pounds!)

Easy!

If you started with £128 you could bring that down to 13 winners.

If you started with £1024 you would need just 10 winners to become a millionaire.

Place your bets, please.

 

When gambling, an important question you need to ask is whether your wager is fixed odds or based on skill. There is an important reason for this because it indicates your chance of winning and losing.

Betting on slot machines, roulette, black jack, three-card poker etc are fixed odds. The odds are carved in stone and cannot change. The odds are less than the actual chance of winning which means you only win by luck.

In fact, the longer you play the more you will lose.

For example, the casino is paying less than the true odds for a given win. A roulette wheel has 1 – 36 compartments (and the zero) but pays 35/1. This gives the house a 2.7% edge. It is worse in the US as they have a double zero (5.25%). Your best chance of beating house edge on fixed odds gambling is to win early and put the money in your pocket and leave. The longer you play the more likely you are to lose.

Skill-based betting, in theory, gives you a greater chance of winning as you are using your knowledge against the layer who thinks they know more. In horse racing this gives an astute gambler a fighting chance of winning. Although, it should be mentioned that the bookmakers will not have their book (betting prices) at 100%. For most horse races the betting market will be around 118% SP (starting prices). So if you bet on every horses in a race, long term, you would lose. That’s why it is important to have a level of skill which exceeds the bookmakers edge and their skill level.

No easy feat.

Out of the two methods of gambling, skill-based is by far the best option.

In the good, old days of gambling you bet with bookmakers.

In fact, I can remember my Dad going to the local bookies up the road, Fred Scotney, and you placed your bet and had to listen to the commentary. They didn’t even have TV coverage. It wasn’t until 1986 when Satellite Information Services (SIS) broadcast live horse racing in bookmakers for the first time.

The first betting exchanges hit the headlines in 2001. Betfair changed the way of gambling opening up the betting industry so individuals could bet and lay in essence any individual could act like a bookmaker.

Betting exchanges has afforded bettors and layers some freedom which conventional boomakers didn’t offer. For example, a gambler can bet and lay. This means individuals could trade on the exchanges. Also, outsiders in any given races are generally considerably bigger odds. A 33/1 shot with the bookies could be 100/1 on the exchanges. It also allowed gamblers to cash out if they wishes. Bookmakers have added this to their platforms as it is a popular option.

Betting exchanges have led the way and helped transform the traditional bookmakers to offer more in the way of promotions.

One of the greatest advantages of using betting exchanges over bookmakers is that even if you win big money your account will never be closes.

Bookmakers do not give this guarantee. In fact, many have been criticised for their practices.

From a personal view, I would much prefer betting with exchanges although there are occasions when a traditional bookies can be used as an advantage just as taking early prices which may not be available elsewhere.