Diary of a professional punter

[The Camel]

I really do hate bookmakers nowadays.

I have never cheated, I have never done anything dodgy. All I want is a fair bet.

Odds compilers get paid up to 100k per year, but they aren't trusted that their opinion is more accurate than mine.

Bookmakers theses day are pathetic chickens.

I have nothing but contempt for arbers, they really are lowlife penny pinchers. I would restrict them to 10p max bets.

...really? Maybe it's just the ones I know, but they're generally paid ~30k.

I was paid 55k + bonuses when I left Blue Squirrel nearly 10 years ago, and I wasn't even a senior compiler.

The 100k was a guess obv.

[redarmi]

I think that was the peak of the industry earnings to be honest Keith.  These days the firms only want people that can look at oddschecker and betradar/tip-ex and know the difference between Nani and Anderson.  Any ability to originate prices these days is limited to a handful of firms and most don't worry about taking punters on for big bets they just shut them as you know.  I would imagine adnmdv is probably right for a low level trader/compiler but seniors and trading managers worth their salt still earn 60k+ I would think but there aren't that many of them about.  Most who know their sports/prices etc punt because it is a better lifestyle as you know/have alluded to.  In 1998 when I started work at VC in Gib there were 15 of us all who could trade and compile although to different levels.   Of those 12 at least seven now punt for a living and most of the others earn decent money because they have so much experience but we were all lucky in that we were in the right place at the right time.  Those of us that between 1996 and, say, 2002 were in our 20's or early 30's were immensely lucky in that the industry went from having maybe a grand total  of 50 odds compilers and traders to having 5000 at least so those of us with any experience became sought after and learnt very quickly.  It was a bit like the situation Malcolm Gladwell mentioned in his book Outliers about being in a unique and very lucky situation.  Nowadays people like you and I Keith are lucky to get a job in the first place with a firm like Boyles or SkyBet and then all we really learn is that Betfair is right and punters that beat the BF price are scum and we have to close/severely restrict them.  For this we get £25k a year and should be grateful.

[The Camel]

In my trawls around the net trying to find out exactly what iesnare was, i read somewhere that one big bookmaker only restructs punters who bet selections that are bigger than betfairs!

Well, wtf are they doing by advertising on oddschecker for?

[The Camel]

I think that was the peak of the industry earnings to be honest Keith.  These days the firms only want people that can look at oddschecker and betradar/tip-ex and know the difference between Nani and Anderson.  Any ability to originate prices these days is limited to a handful of firms and most don't worry about taking punters on for big bets they just shut them as you know.  I would imagine adnmdv is probably right for a low level trader/compiler but seniors and trading managers worth their salt still earn 60k+ I would think but there aren't that many of them about.  Most who know their sports/prices etc punt because it is a better lifestyle as you know/have alluded to.  In 1998 when I started work at VC in Gib there were 15 of us all who could trade and compile although to different levels.   Of those 12 at least seven now punt for a living and most of the others earn decent money because they have so much experience but we were all lucky in that we were in the right place at the right time.  Those of us that between 1996 and, say, 2002 were in our 20's or early 30's were immensely lucky in that the industry went from having maybe a grand total  of 50 odds compilers and traders to having 5000 at least so those of us with any experience became sought after and learnt very quickly.  It was a bit like the situation Malcolm Gladwell mentioned in his book Outliers about being in a unique and very lucky situation.  Nowadays people like you and I Keith are lucky to get a job in the first place with a firm like Boyles or SkyBet and then all we really learn is that Betfair is right and punters that beat the BF price are scum and we have to close/severely restrict them.  For this we get £25k a year and should be grateful.

Good post Stuart.

I hate betfair nearly as much as I hate bookmakers.

[bobby1]

I think that was the peak of the industry earnings to be honest Keith.  These days the firms only want people that can look at oddschecker and betradar/tip-ex and know the difference between Nani and Anderson.  Any ability to originate prices these days is limited to a handful of firms and most don't worry about taking punters on for big bets they just shut them as you know.  I would imagine adnmdv is probably right for a low level trader/compiler but seniors and trading managers worth their salt still earn 60k+ I would think but there aren't that many of them about.  Most who know their sports/prices etc punt because it is a better lifestyle as you know/have alluded to.  In 1998 when I started work at VC in Gib there were 15 of us all who could trade and compile although to different levels.   Of those 12 at least seven now punt for a living and most of the others earn decent money because they have so much experience but we were all lucky in that we were in the right place at the right time.  Those of us that between 1996 and, say, 2002 were in our 20's or early 30's were immensely lucky in that the industry went from having maybe a grand total  of 50 odds compilers and traders to having 5000 at least so those of us with any experience became sought after and learnt very quickly.  It was a bit like the situation Malcolm Gladwell mentioned in his book Outliers about being in a unique and very lucky situation.  Nowadays people like you and I Keith are lucky to get a job in the first place with a firm like Boyles or SkyBet and then all we really learn is that Betfair is right and punters that beat the BF price are scum and we have to close/severely restrict them.  For this we get £25k a year and should be grateful.

abs spot on, the difference nowadays tho is a senior in play trader will earn more than a trading desk guy who puts together the firms pre game lines using oddschecker and BF.

[redarmi]

Actually I think the bit about needing to know the difference between Nani and Anderson is probably a bit of an exagerration.  They probably aren't that bothered about that these days but allegedly if you want to go and work on the other side of the counter for Tony Bloom's football business apparently amongst the interview questions that have been asked have been, name Millwalls starting eleven last Saturday and who was missing that would normally be in the starting eleven and why, Is Kevin Pulleins column in the Racing Post on a Saturday good for football punters and what do you think the drawbacks are to using a poisson distribution when related to football betting.  I am ridiculously proud that I once took a 21 year old kid out of university and trained him in footbl betting for a year and after that year he passed an interview and got a job for Bloom.  One of the other kids got a job at Spreadex i wasn't that surprised really.

[ACE2M]

traders won't exist in 10 years time, maybe less.

the game is changing in front of your eyes.

[bobby1]

traders won't exist in 10 years time, maybe less.

the game is changing in front of your eyes.

That depends how you classify the word trader. Football games are bet using programmes now but some sports are impossible to trade that way. If you mean pre game then yes I agree.

[The Camel]

traders won't exist in 10 years time, maybe less.

the game is changing in front of your eyes.

Taking money from the bots is fun too sometimes.

The score is 1-1 with 10 minutes to go.

A player goes down witha  broken leg, and it's obviously going to take 5 minutes for the game to restart.

Have your entire betfair balance on under 2.5 goals.. and get out just as he gets put on the stretcher.

You'll make about 8 ticks.

Happy days (except for the poor sap with a broken leg)

[The Camel]

According to several posts on 2+2 Greg Pierson, the CEO of iovation (the creators and owners of iesnare) is directly linked and very likely participated in the UB superuser scandal.

Bookmakers doing business with a scumbag cheat in order to shaft honest punters.

Sounds about right.

Google "Greg Pierson scandal". It's all there.

[ACE2M]

traders won't exist in 10 years time, maybe less.

the game is changing in front of your eyes.

That depends how you classify the word trader. Football games are bet using programmes now but some sports are impossible to trade that way. If you mean pre game then yes I agree.

Which sports? Traders won't exist in terms of people who actually understand what there lines mean or how they are compiled, you'll just need to be able to click a button or type some data.

[The Camel]

I'm almost breathless reading this stuff.

You could not make this up.

Look at his video http://www.iovation.com/online-casinos/    "Online Gambling: Expose Organized Fraud Rings Before They Become a Problem "

[The Camel]

Think it's time for a blog post!

[Solaris]

Have you ever had a blog Camel? Judging by your posts it would make for fantastic reading...

[Dubai]

He's had 2, he just never admitted to the latter