Stan James RIP

[arbboy]

The brand ceases to exist tomorrow and just gets swallowed up into the Unibet brand.   Legendary firm who set the way for the modern day bet in running carnage that happens nowadays 247.  They were considered our main rivals in my very early days at 365 and our goal was always to price up major sports before they did, especially the then more minority sports of tennis, us sports, snooker, darts etc.  There was some incredible arbs to be had on the early prices (which were usually held until the next morning as they were published in the racing post)i remember one first round tennis match at Wimbledon we made 5/6 each of two and stan made it 1/5 10/3.  Glory days.  Think it was Costa's match after he just won the French open on clay and stan thought he was suddenly a world beater on grass and made him 1/5!

Teletext in running prices in the top corner of your screen until the 80th minute on all football matches live on tv seem funny now but it was ground breaking.

They were the first firm to offer betting on British basketball as well which i destroyed them at and remember literally everyone being on a couple of ante post bets in the 365 office with stan that year.

They used to provide all the prices for every independent betting shop in the UK back in those days so you could go to any shop to get on any of their ricks as well as on the phone.

They were my first ever telephone account back in 1994 at uni.  I can still rememeber the 0800 freephone number you had to ring and my original account number.

RIP stan.  Thanks for the memories and changing the game forever.

[arbboy]

Over the phone pre internet days i can never remember being knocked back by ever.  They really did used to lay a bet on some of the most comical sports/markets they priced up that no one else did!

[Chompy]

They were the nuts back in the day but had become a joke tbf and won't be missed. At least not by me.

Think they were my first phone account too. You used to speak to an actual trader. After ringing an actual Oxford number. "Account number SJ427629...Yes Mr Wheeldon, what can we do for you?" Aah, the good old days.



Terry Wogan gave this a very positive mentiono before they came on stage. 125-1 down to 7-2 in the space of 10minutes at a time when nobody had even heard of accounts being closed.

[arbboy]

Typical call would be rapid at .

Hello . 

SJ367

£200 man u at evens.

Anything else sir?

No

Just dial that through for you  (old school switch debit card)

Bet is on sir.

End of call.  Usually 25 seconds tops.

[arbboy]

I remember backing Miss Urkaine in the 2001 miss world with them at 50/1 ew,  Think i had £100 ew. Imagine getting £100 ew on a 50/1 poke in Miss World now without even being referred!  She ticked every box going for the heat apart from her english was non existent for the interview round and we just got touched off.

Think i had £100 ew on Miss Aruba at 50/1 as well who finished 2nd.  Frustrating was not the word when Miss Nigeria won.  Still don't get how she won it 17 years on.  It was a skinner for the firm though so i kept my job!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_World_2001

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleksandra_Nikolayenko

This was the little gold digger.  Stunning.  Shame there are no pictures.  Married a 72 year old when she was 27!!  Good girl!

This was the first event i was ever let loose with at 365 pricing up on my own.  What a couple of weeks that was studying the form and getting paid for it.  No wonder i ever went back to accountancy two months after leaving doing that for a living!

[Chompy]

Ha!

Another Wogan-inspired Stan James coup from yesteryear. A full £10 at 8-1 this one.



We need more of this sort of thing back on our screens. BBC1 would seem an obvious spot.

[Marky147]

Remember getting on Reading @ 150s with old Sidney, thanks to the Shrewdies.

[arbboy]

I backed Boston to win the 2008 NBA championship with them at 150/1 the day before they signed KG and RA.  They were 6/1 favs 2 days later!  Think they laid me £5 ew!  How times change in 5 years.

I also remember when they used to do NBA players specials for sky sports nba play off games and went over/under 10.5 rebounds for Shaq just based on his reg season average when he averaged about 16 in the play offs!  Think he had 10 in the first quarter.  Was the first time my flat mate had ever seen Shaq play in his life and he got stuck in purely off my recommendation!

[Karabiner]

In-running PGA golf via teletext was a lot of fun too especially when there were two live streams on sky - one with US coverage and one with sky's which was around twenty seconds slower.

I only once caught watching the slower stream but it was a most enjoyable evening.

[ripple11]

A few years back on Budget Bingo, they were offering fun bet at 100/1 on either "Stan " or "James" being mentioned in the chancellors budget speech.

Mentioned on TFT...I had a fiver on.....and it came in, as "James somebody" got a mention 

[arbboy]

In-running PGA golf via teletext was a lot of fun too especially when there were two live streams on sky - one with US coverage and one with sky's which was around twenty seconds slower.

I only once caught watching the slower stream but it was a most enjoyable evening.

Talking of slow streams they used to do in running snooker off the world snooker score board website which was really slow on non TV games.  I remember being at the grand prix in Preston one year around 2004 and basically sitting in the back row and punting on my phone whilst watching the game about 30 seconds quicker than were effectively.

[arbboy]

https://www.racingpost.com/sport/sport-columnists/bidding-a-fond-farewell-to-groundbreaking-stan-james/321227

[Chompy]

Sad scenes really.

I miss the old teletext days in some ways. Technology is moving way too fast these days.

It's less than 20 years since we were all using teletext and betting by phone. Looking back, it's no surprise there were so many angles to play.

Now everything is spoon-fed to everyone and there's no incentive to putting the work in.

SpIndex P604, City P609, Hills P601-603? Wasn't S.J something random like 539?

[arbboy]

I can remember the first time i ever found betting on the NBA on surrey sports (sold to skybet) teletext page back in the 90s.  It was great fun searching through teletext to find the best prices on stuff.  Oddschecker just a distant dream.

[Chompy]

Oddschecker still just a distant dream tbf. Useless pile of poop these days.