Perhaps it is the close proximity of Christmas and all the good food and festive cheer the next couple of weeks bring that has invoked feelings of happiness and optimism.  Or maybe my upbeat mood is the direct consequence of reading an editorial piece written by Bruce Millington in the Racing Post last week.  Thinking about it, I believe it’s more the latter!

At last, the racing industry’s trade publication has approached head on the issue of betting restrictions and account closures imposed by our leading online bookmakers, the trigger for which seems to be pulled with uncommon speed and alacrity (dictionary definition: “brisk and cheerful readiness”!) nowadays.

Historically the newspaper, so reliant on bookmaker advertising for revenue, has been notably reticent in adopting an accusatory tone towards their “paymasters”, but is the worm now turning?  Millington has finally accepted that the current situation regarding account restrictions is far from ideal: “the situation with bookmakers refusing bets has reached a point where action is needed, and hopefully 2018 will be the year when something happens to resolve an issue that even some betting industry figures say has got out of hand.”

Hear, hear!

What I found particularly interesting was Millington’s proposal that UK bookmakers ought perhaps be made to stand a bet to a guaranteed minimum liability, a path trodden already in some Australian States.  He alludes to the fact that Coral, a firm which for a certain class of race (or higher) will lay a bet to win at at least £500 for any wager struck in one of it’s shops.  As Millington points out, introducing such a guarantee has hardly taken the company to the brink of bankruptcy, not according to their financial statements anyway.

The issue of course is that introducing such rules on the bookmaking fraternity would likely need direct and interventional action from the Gambling Commission.  I must admit my own feelings towards the GC have been those of indifference.  Until now, I’ve not seen anything from them that shows they have teeth.  Millington however, who I’m certain knows a lot more about the Commission than I do, believes that they are evolving into a beast to be reckoned with: “The Gambling Commission is no longer the inert organisation it was in its infancy. It is now active – bordering on aggressive.”

So perhaps 2018 will be a tumultuous year for us punters with bookmakers being forced to lay a decent bet at last.  My own thought-process tells me that if they are, then we as punters could wave goodbye pretty quickly to BOG concessions, extra each way places and various other bonuses that those fortunate enough to have viable accounts enjoy at present.  To my mind, this would be a fair swap.  Here’s hoping.

Betting for December

A much better week for the portfolio with most services generating a profit, some of them significantly so.

Jason James put a recent dry spell behind him with a couple of excellent days.  A 9/1 winner on Wednesday and another at the same price on Sunday meant it was a fine week for JJ.

Other than that it was the two footie services that really came good.  The considerable success of AH Edge was down to an admirable consistency throughout the week, whilst Football Service 1 came up with a couple of big priced winners in the Premier League at the weekend.

The only service to hit a bum note was Racing Service A, but only a matter of time before dropped points are regained with ample compensation.

Figures for the month to date:

ROI: 8.39%.  ROC: 2.44%.

AH Edge: Staked 41pts, +7.17pts.

Chasemaster: Staked 9.5pts, +5.05pts.

Football Service 1: Staked 21pts, +6.47pts.

Jason James: Staked 54.5pts, +9.25pts.

MVS (Lite): Staked 33pts, -0.37pts.

Northern Monkey: Staked 37.625pts, +9.66pts.

Pilelist Racing: Staked 15pts, -7.47pts.

Racing Service A: Staked 17.75pts, -8.75pts.

Racing Service B: Staked 30.25pts, +2.25pts.

As I sit here at my desk writing this post, the rain is absolutely hammering it down outside.  It’s miserable, but at least it’s getting rid of the slush and ice that preceded it.

I bloomin’ hate winter weather.  I hate it more when I know that there’s a great big hairy mutt, currently dozing by the radiator, who is very shortly going to need walking!

The Changing Tipster Landscape

When I recently discovered that the polls were open to SBC members to vote for their best and worst of within the betting world, it caused me to think a little about how good we punters have it these days.  Sure, the bookmakers don’t make things easy, but if it’s one thing I’ve learnt this year it is that with a bit of thought and pre-planning it is possible to maintain accounts for a decent period and retain access to Best Odds Guaranteed.  So even with this (surmountable) obstacle in our way, I’m telling you we’ve never had it so good.

Casting my mind back just a few short years, finding and then following an honourable and profitable tipster was nigh on impossible.  If you did manage to find one, you could count your blessings.

Seriously, the number of tipsters I tried and got ripped off by wasn’t funny!  I was naive, ringing 0898 ‘phone lines (not that type – the betting lines, I mean), paying some ridiculous rate per minute for the call only to listen to some dodgy geezer wittering on and on to make the message as long (and therefore as profitable for him) as possible before concluding with some drivel about how the 1/3 on shot in the 2.40 couldn’t be beaten.  Connections were going in BIG, don’t you know!  Yeah, right. That’s shrewd.

Or there were the guys who stuck small ads in the Racing Post and got you to stick 20 quid on for them and send on the winnings.  All very well and good, but obviously most would give out every horse in the race to the different mugs that would call so that they were guaranteed some form of payment.  It wasn’t until both I and my mate rang the same number by mistake one day and were given different horses in the same race that we twigged it.

So when I first heard of the SBC, I presumed it was a scam and it took me about a year before I actually signed up.

But look at things now.  There are so many tipping services out there now that not only have proved themselves to be profitable, but which are also run on an extremely professional basis.  If a tipster can’t produce a clear, concise and verified record of their bets, they don’t get very far.  If they treat their customers with anything other than courtesy and helpfulness, they don’t get very far.  If they quote unrealistic prices, they don’t get very far.  You get the message.

Telling the truth?

As an example of what I’m saying, read this post: How To Check if a Tipster is Telling the Truth.  Can you imagine, back in the punting dark ages (about ten years or so ago) that we’d have access to folk we can trust to do all the checking to make sure we really can make a profit by following Tipster A or B?

I’m telling you folks, the tipster landscape has changed.  We’ve entered a Golden Age.

Northern Monkey’s excellent Saturday

Overall it’s been a pretty quiet start to the month, as you will see from the figures below.  But that doesn’t mean the betting has been without it’s excitement.

Last Saturday (9th) for example, saw Northern Monkey play a blinder.  First we had Blacklion, backed antepost at 8s and again  at 7/2 win the Becher Chase at Aintree, and then we had Gas Line Boy which had also been supported antepost at 8s and again separately in a double with a 9/4 winner, dot up in the Grand Sefton.  Smashing stuff!

Betting for December

So after 10 days, the portfolio is showing an ROI of 2.51% and bank growth of just 0.44% for the month to date.

AH Edge: Staked 24pts, +1.56pts.

Chasemaster: Staked 7.5pts, +7.05pts.

Football Service 1: Staked 9pts, +1.841pts.

Jason James: Staked 36.5pts, -12.5pts.

MVS (Lite): Staked 22pts, -1.375pts.

Northern Monkey: Staked 23.875pts, +9.407pts.

Pilelist Racing: Staked 10.046pts, -8.61pts.

Racing Service A: Staked 11.75pts, -2.75pts.

Racing Service B: Staked 20.5pts, +5pts.

Well what an end to the month it has been!  The last Saturday (25th) produced one of the biggest daily profit counts I’ve ever had as MVS (Lite), Northern Monkey, and Pilelist Racing all came up trumps simultaneously.

The net result was an excellent month’s betting.  Kick started by Racing Service A’s heroic opening Saturday and rounded off by the three aforementioned services, it was very much a case of making hay when the sun hasn’t been shining (I hate these cold, wintry afternoons when it’s dark by half three).

The overall figures for the month show an ROI of 22.45% and bank growth (ROC) of 11.29%.

By far the best performer was Northern Monkey which, as mentioned, had a storming end to the season.  A 9/1 antepost winner at Haydock which was backed both as a single and doubled up with a 3/1 winner gave the coffers a significant boost. and it’s ironic for a tipster primarily known for his expertise on the flat, to produce this profit over the jumps.

That initial Saturday that saw Racing Service A stick up three winners at dirty great big odds set up the month nicely, but it’s fair to say that with just a smidgeon of luck, the already impressive bottom line figures could have looked even more spectacular.  Christmas following RSA is always good fun, and I’m looking forward to it.

It’s been a great year for Morning Value Service (Lite) and November was another profitable month.  Again, in what is something of a mini-theme emerging within this post, it was the end of the month that proved the most lucrative period and four winners out of five on that wonderful Saturday produced more than 50% of the month’s total profit.

As for Pilelist Racing, with just a week of the month to go it looked for all the world as if a loss would be recorded come close of play on the 30th.  Then a fantastic Saturday (!!) saw 9/2 and 20/1 winners and a complete turnaround.  Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?

A nod too, in the direction of AH Edge which, despite coughing up some profit by tipping six losers from eight bets on Sunday 26th, ended the month with a very solid profit indeed.  As a relatively recent addition to the portfolio, I like what I’ve seen so far.

Of course it’s never plain sailing for all, and four of the ten services ended the month in the red, although pleasingly not one racked up what might be deemed as heavy losses.

AH Edge: Staked 52pts, +10.129pts, ROI 19.47%, ROC 16.88%.

Chasemaster: Staked 12pts, -5.1pts, ROI -42.5%, ROC -5.1%.

Football Service 1: Staked 22pts, -3.208pts, ROI -14.58%, ROC -6.41%.

Golf Insider: Staked 8,120pts, +575.8pts, ROI 7.09%, ROC 2.87%.

Jason James: Staked 109.5pts, -8.35pts, ROI -7.62%, ROC -6.41%.

MVS (Lite): Staked 57pts, +13.5pts, ROI 23.68%, ROC 15%.

Northern Monkey: Staked 65.925pts, +39.969pts, ROI 60.62%, ROC 49.96%.

Pilelist Racing: Staked 25.163pts, +8.103pts, ROI 32.2%, ROC 10.53%.

Racing Service A: Staked 34pts, +25.875pts, ROI 76.1%, ROC 38.81%.

Racing Service B: Staked 74.25pts, -10.175pts, ROI -13.7%, ROC -5.08%.

Geoff Banks hits out at Attheraces

You may remember in our last Bet Diary post we discussed bookmaker Geoff Banks’ blog post, in which he put forward his case as to why he doesn’t accommodate betting ‘geeks’ who do not gamble, but “trade money”.

Well, Geoff’s been at it again, this time hitting out at the Attheraces ‘Sunday Forum’ show which recently hosted a ‘debate’ over bookmaker restrictions.  This time I find myself very much in Geoff’s corner – you can read his article here.

Geoff was rightly critical of the fact the panel, which included Simon Clare, Coral’s mouthpiece and ‘PR guru’, was hosted by Sean Boyce who himself is employed by Coral TV. A setup which is nicely symptomatic of the cosy relationship between bookie and media and one where Boyce was hardly likely to put Clare under undue pressure with searching questions.

Geoff’s argument is that it is not so much the issue of who gets restricted and why but more that it is the “unsustainable” odds and various bonus offerings bookmakers offer that need tackling. These offers force their business model to dictate that any account which suggests an ability to be anything other than a mug must be restricted or closed.

All of which raises the question: Would you happily forfeit Best Odds Guaranteed and the various sign up offers if it meant you could bet for longer and not have stakes restricted?

I know I certainly would!

Profit comes in splurges

Racing Service 1 and Northern Monkey are by far the biggest contributors to the monthly profit count as things stand, and the money made by each has essentially been made in a day.

RS1 had a storming Saturday early in the month and Saturday 11th saw Northern Monkey hit the heights, racking up over 26 points on the day!

Just goes to show that we can gain a little, lose a little with a service over fairly lengthy periods, and then Boom!  Consistency in approach to our betting and staking is so, so important.  Start messing with the basics, and we risk missing out big time!

Figures for the month to date

AH Edge: Staked 31pts, +9.614pts

Chasemaster: Staked 5pts, -5pts

Football Service 1: Staked 11pts, +2.335pts.

Golf Insider: Staked 7500pts, +745.5pts.

Jason James: Staked 75pts, -21.4pts.

MVS (Lite): Staked 36pts, -4.75pts.

Northern Monkey: Staked 49.675pts, +14.043pts.

Pilelist Racing: Staked 17.063pts, -8.116pts.

Racing Service 1: Staked 22.5pts, +21.5pts

Racing Service 2: Staked 51.25pts, -1.15pts.

Total ROI 13.57%, ROC 4.2%

A Bookmaker’s View

Most of you will have heard of Geoff Banks, I’m sure.  For those who haven’t, Geoff is a bookmaker never short of an opinion, and never shy of letting that opinion be known.  He is usually worth listening to and personally, I find his approach far more entertaining than most of the usual grey suited, instantly forgettable bookmaker PR reps we see most often on our TV screens.

Anyway, Geoff recently published a post in his ‘View From The Ring’ blog which put forward his stance on account restrictions and closures.  I’d urge you to have a read of it – it’s interesting stuff, if not completely flawless in it’s logic.

I like the fact that Geoff has an issue with folk that use social media as a medium across which they can be abusive and potentially libellous, seemingly without redress (and I can’t help thinking it a wise move to avoid using a stick to prod Geoff’s busy legal team!).  I have an issue with keyboard warriors too, but that’s another issue.  What is the issue in Geoff’s piece is his obvious disregard for punters who run their betting operation as a “business”, which is where I personally have a problem with Geoff’s argument.

After claiming to have paid out one client £93k recently and subsequently left their account unrestricted, Geoff continues to launch a diatribe against those who, “sit at home utilising expensive trading software like Bet angel, price scalping tools, odds scanners or the like, masking their IP address- only offering a bookmaker a bet because their odds have become out of date, and therefore bigger than Betfair’s exchange.”

In other words, arbers.

Now I have no strong personal stance on the practice of arbing.  I don’t do it myself, because I know it’s a surefire way of killing your accounts quicker than anything else you can do.  But the inference that those who utilise technology, analyse data and who scour the market for best prices are somehow playing unfair?  Really?  Isn’t that what modern-age bookmakers do?    Isn’t that what teams of analysts are employed for (and I appreciate Geoff himself may not employ teams of number-crunchers)?  The betting markets are a battlefield.  Surely even Geoff would agree that each side can arm themselves in the most effective way possible, before letting battle commence.

One final point on this.  Pinnacle Sports “welcome” arbers.  They can afford to because at a fundamental level their business model allows them to.  Sure,  they retain the service of numerous market analysts/traders and new-fangled  technology (ie. computers), but in many ways I see them as running their books on what is the most pure and perhaps old-fashioned bookmaking principle…  they make a book, allowing money to dictate the movement of their prices from their opening mark.  By doing so, they balance their book, using the overround to shave their margin off the top, just as bookmakers used to do in the betting ring and on the rails at racecourses up and down the country.  Do this effectively and efficiently, and I’m not sure why the source of money and what kind of punter someone is of such concern to the bookmaker.  Whether it be a guy sticking a pin into his Racing Post or a “geek” with five screens on his desk – what should it matter?

I’m not dopey enough to directly compare Pinnacle with Geoff Banks; the two are completely different bookmaking  animals, but I’d be interested on Geoff’s take on this last point.

Geoff – over to you…

PS. November’s figures being updated…will be posted soon!

So Halloween has been and gone (and thank Dennis Bergkamp for that! – I’m not American, and I DON’T want my evening being constantly interrupted by some snotty kid who thinks they look like a ghost simply because they’ve stuck a pillow case over their head!) and Christmas is around the corner.  Blimey!

October was the first month of the expanded portfolio but of course Sod’s Law rose from the dead and spooked us out by ensuring that none of the four new services produced a profit.  Instead, what has been a strong month is down to three of the old stalwarts.

Who can forget the Saturday afternoon when Northern Monkey’s strategy of multiple bets and loading up on one horse was vindicated.  Spring Loaded is now a horse that will join the pantheon of the greats in my own (betting) mind, up there with the likes of Blake’s Treasure which won a Seller at Nottingham at 20/1 about 25 years ago!

The form of Morning Value Service (Lite) continues to delight.  I keep telling myself it can’t continue (and it really can’t!) but if you can’t enjoy the run of form this service is currently on then you’re dead inside (making you a Zombie, which is far more scary than any kid in a pillow case!).

And as for Football Service 1…well, ending the month with eight winning bets from nine is pleasing to say the least.  Good to see the battle hardened, grizzly Ghostbuster producing the goods.  If you want footballing profit, who are you going to call?

As for the negatives, well let’s just say the boys at Chasemaster are going to be pleased to see the back of the month.  It’s not been pretty.

Overall, October generated an ROI of 12.72% and bank growth (ROC) of 6.68%. 

Here’s the breakdown…

AH Edge: Staked 67pts, -5.896pts.

Chasemaster: Staked 25.25pts, -22.387pts.

Football Service 1: Staked 36pts, +12.799pts.

Golf Insider: Staked 1480pts, -376.9pts.

Jason James: Staked 110pts, +16.833pts.

Morning Value Service (Lite): Staked 62pts, +19.25pts.

Northern Monkey: Staked 65.175pts, +37.375pts.

Pilelist Racing: Staked 57.771pts, -1.358pts.

Racing Service A: n/a

Racing Service B: Staked 60.75pts, +1.475pts.

Tin hat needed after The Tin Man lets us down

The last week was all about The Tin Man for Northern Monkey.  Clearly, the Wizard of Oz is still playing funny buggers and hasn’t given The Tin Man a new heart.  Judging by the way it ran at Ascot on Saturday, it sure does need one!

After last weekend’s huge success, Wayne was understandably bullish about his latest “project” horse and the week leading up to Saturday’s race saw a few attempts at getting stakes rolling up onto The Tin Man via doubles.  Unfortunately the previous week’s heroics weren’t matched and Saturday proved to be a major disappointment for Northern Monkey’s followers.  Still, you can’t win them all…

Getting right back on after falling off

Tuesday evening proved to be something of a horror show for the Football Service 1 system (I backed five teams, none of them won) and judging by the tipster’s comments in his member’s email on Thursday containing the weekend’s picks, it appears that the main system suffered too.  Of course, after a blow out, human nature tends to dictate that the last thing you then want to do is shell out a load more money on a big number of tips from the same source.  Far better to gradually recover the losses and regain confidence that way, no?

Well, no.  It was a case of getting right up back in the saddle on Saturday with a bumper 13 bet weekend for the Service 1 system.  Even the tipster himself was struggling to remember the last time a round of fixtures threw up so many selections.  Those who retained faith in their tipster and betting bank, and stayed consistent in their staking enjoyed a decent enough day.  In times past I can guarantee I’d have lowered my stakes or something equally as daft.  Not now though.  Sometimes experience really does count for a lot.

Clean sweep for AH Edge

It’s not been a good week overall.  The horse racing tipsters have found the going heavy in more ways than one and judging by the emails, the guys at Chasemaster are feeling particularly frustrated at present.  But of course this is why we add diversity to our portfolios, and it was good to see AH Edge produce five winning bets from five on Sunday.  Such a performance certainly helped keep the week to a “Disappointing” rating and prevent it from slumping to “Catastrophic”!

Here are the month to date figures…

AH Edge: Staked 39pts, +1.453pts.

Chasemaster: Staked 20.25pts, -17.387pts.

Football Service 1: Staked 27pts, -1.458pts.

Golf Insider: Staked 1,060pts, +43.1pts.

Jason James: Staked 83.5pts, -10.917pts.

Morning Value Service (Lite): Staked 47pts, +15pts.

Northern Monkey: Staked 49pts, +30.271pts.

Pilelist Racing: Staked 41.256pts, +3.386pts.

Racing Service A: n/a

Racing Service B: Staked 39.5pts, +6.6pts.

October ROI: 10.46%, ROC 3.89%.

Northern Monkey’s Profit Explosion

I can’t possibly start this week’s post with anything but a huge big-up and doff of the cap to Northern Monkey.

It’s been a frustrating year for Wayne and his disciples, but after yesterday’s events NMP subscribers ought to be offering to bathe Wayne’s feet in milk whilst peeling his grapes for him.

Picking the winner of the notoriously difficult Cesarewitch is a tremendously difficult task in itself.  To pick out what went off as the 5/1 favourite antepost at 25/1 is, some might argue, bordering on the miraculous.  To double it up with a 100/30 winner on Tuesday when still at 12/1?  Well, I’d say Wayne doesn’t so much walk on water as tap dance his way over it.

The upshot was a tremendous Saturday’s sport, boosted further by Morning Value Service (Lite) weighing in with three winners, but the weekend undoubtedly belonged to Wayne.

Lot to like about Pilelist Racing

Naturally it’s always easy to write good things about a service you’re new to when they’re knocking in big priced winners, which is something Pilelist Racing did on Tuesday with Landing Night finishing first past the post at 20/1 up at Newcastle.  But it’s fair to say that there’s a lot to like about this service.

Succinct but detailed bet rationale, tip release when markets are mature, odds holding up well…it’s taken very little time to acclimatize to following, primarily because all the basic things you want to see in a service are there.  It’s been only two weeks from placing my first Pilelist bet, but I’m already feeling that the service is akin to a comfy pair of slippers or a favourite armchair.

Winter is on it’s way, but TVB is warming up nicely

As far as I am aware, Racing Service A is the only horse racing tipster out there to have a pre-season.  The decent weekend National Hunt Chepstow card signifies the fact that the fledgling jumps season is beginning to get serious.  It is at this time that A. starts to gain a feel for things again after a summer off.

Members who have been missing Racing Service A’s daily ponderings and doses of wisdom were given a treat when A. sent out a couple of emails detailing his thoughts.  Experimenting with a staking system that is new for 2017/18 and attempting to get the rustiness out of his formbook reading, A. showed that the magic has not diminished over the summer months.  Although not an ‘official’ tip, he was able to bang in 14/1 winner Court Minstrel.  Roll on the start of November when things go live.

A fine week

After Northern Monkey’s stormer on Saturday, things would have had to have been pretty disastrous elsewhere for this past week to have been anything other than a very good one.  Although Chasemaster, Jason James and Racing Service B disappointed, good performances from MVS (Lite) and Pilelist ensured that disaster didn’t strike.

Here are the figures for the month to date:

AH Edge: Staked 21pts, -0.36pts.

Chasemaster: Staked 10.25pts, -8.687pts.

Football Service 1: Staked 9pts, +0.708pts.

Golf Insider: Staked 590pts, +513.1pts.

Jason James: Staked 53.5pts, -22.917pts.

MVS (Lite): Staked 30pts, +16.5pts.

Northern Monkey: Staked 28pts, +38.321pts.

Pilelist Racing: Staked 25.645pts, +8.175pts.

Racing Service A: n/a.

Racing Service B: Staked 27.75pts, +4.85pts.

October ROI: 30%.  ROC: 6.23%.

Spring is the time of growth, is it not?  Autumn the time of slow death and decay as nature readies itself for the cold and barren winter months.  Well, not for this little bunny rabbit it’s not!

Three new services added to the portfolio for the start of October…

BANG! AH Edge – adding to the football element with (funnily enough) a concentration on the Asian Handicap markets.

BANG! Golf Insider – replacing Pinpoint Gold for reasons I will explain soon (and nothing at all against that service).

BANG! Pilelist Racing – an each way betting expert with a pretty decent long term track record.

This brings the portfolio up to ten services, providing a bit more turnover and more opportunity to grow bank levels.  I am still looking to add one or two more and will look to do so as we move into the New Year.

The intention is to bring more posts to the Bet Diary too.  Having a larger portfolio will make this easier to do as quite simply, there will be more to talk about.  So make sure you check back regularly!

Betting from 1st October to 7th October

The first week of the new month has produced an overall ROI of 9.4% and ROC of 0.89%.

The most notable performer in a positive sense has undoubtedly been Racing Service B whose recent good form has continued.  Badly in the negative is Northern Monkey, who has hopefully returned from a recent holiday refreshed, but possibly a little rusty!  Loads of time this month to get back on track, however.

Here are the figures…

AH Edge: Staked 15pts, -0.399pts.

Chasemaster: Staked 3pts, -1.437pts.

Football Service 1: Staked 4pts, +1.273pts.

Golf Insider: Staked 150pts, +215.6pts.

Jason James: Staked 27pts, -0.25pts.

MVS (Lite): Staked 9pts, +6pts.

Northern Monkey: Staked 12.5pts, -11.262pts.

Pilelist Racing: Staked 10.392pts, +3.727pts.

Racing Service A: n/a.

Racing Service B: Staked 12.25pts, +20.35pts.

And so another month whizzes by.  Seriously, where the heck has this year gone?!?  It’s frightening how quickly the months and weeks pass.

September is notable for the fact the return of football betting following the summer break.  As was the case last season, I’m following Football Service 1 through 2017/18.  However, in what is a general expansion of the portfolio, I will be introducing another football service into proceedings.  More detail on that and another couple of additions very soon.

September’s betting returned a solid enough 10.23% ROI, and bank growth of 4.49%.  Five of the seven services to issue bets returned a profit.

It gives me great pleasure to write that the most lucrative service to follow last month was Racing Service B.  I was having lunch and a beer with a couple of betting friends last week when the subject of this tipster’s approach to the game came up in conversation.  It was fascinating to hear the thoughts of another experienced bettor on the Irish tipster’s prowess.  My friend felt that via the various conversations he had enjoyed with this tipster over a period of time, the one thing that came through very strongly was that his intimate knowledge of horse racing and his “feel” (or understanding) for the sport provides him with a genuine edge over the bookmaker.

Of course I have bemoaned on these very pages a lack of progress up the Racing Service B P&L chart in the recent past, and it was good to have my confidence and faith in it reaffirmed by my friend’s thoughts.  It has been good too, for that reaffirmation to be firmly cemented by what has been a cracking month – 46.85pts profit at an ROI of 56.1%, or, put another way, bank growth of 23.4%!  Long may this form continue.

A positive mention too for Northern Monkey who both managed to squeeze in a well-deserved holiday and squeeze out a pretty healthy profit of 10.048pts at an ROI of 12.5% and ROC of 12.56%.  It’s been a frustrating summer for Wayne with a number of near misses.  Had the betting Gods smiled a little more favourably the summer months would have been lucrative ones for NMP members, but I guess them’s the breaks!

Here are the figures…

Chasemaster: Staked 19pts, +4.76pts, ROI 25.08%, ROC 4.76%.

Jason James: Staked 106.5pts, +15.65pts, ROI 14.9%, ROC 7.82%.

Morning Value Lite: Staked 52pts, +1.5pts, ROI 2.88%, ROC 1.5%.

Northern Monkey: Staked 80.25pts, +10.048pts, ROI 12.52%, ROC 12.56%.

Racing Service B: Staked 83.5pts, +46.85pts, ROI 56.1%, ROC 23.42%.

Pinpoint Golf: Staked 133.8pts, -47.207pts, ROI -35.28%, ROC -9.44%.

Football Service 1: Staked 13pts, -3.764pts, ROI -28.95%, ROC -7.52%.

So, next time, news of some changes.  Tune in shortly…