Month: October 2023

🎧SBC Podcast #64: Nick Goff on Football Betting, Syndicates and the State of the Industry

Posted on by Josh P

In the latest SBC Podcast I am joined by Nick Goff, the professional football punter, former industry trader and member of a highly successful syndicate.

Nick has an extremely interesting back story, with industry experience and management of markets for one of the UK’s leading bookmakers shaping his knowledge and expertise.

Disillusioned with the direction the industry was taking, Nick took the plunge and decided to back his judgement by becoming a full-time bettor seven years ago.

Antepost betting and day of game action make up the majority of Nick’s activity and to complement his own work, he is part of a group of very successful bettors who cooperate in a football syndicate.

With extensive knowledge of ‘both sides of the fence’, Nick is well placed to discuss issues in the industry such as affordability, the White Paper, bookmaker behaviour and suggested policies (such as Minimum Bet Liabilities).

In this interview, we cover it all. Nick has unique insights and I was delighted to be joined by a guest with such extensive knowledge. I enjoyed this chat and I’m sure that you will too!

You can listen to Episode 64 now via Apple / Spotify / Google / YouTube and all other major podcast directories (search Smart Betting Club)

An in-depth chat with a football betting expert

In this episode Nick and I discuss:

  • Nick’s work in the industry, working for four firms that no longer exist and progressing to become the Head of Football Trading at Coral
  • Learning from more experienced experts and amalgamating different insights to form his own punting philosophy
  • Building a bank, playing poker and betting on sports including snooker and NFL
  • Transitioning into full time punting, the challenges this presented and the support around him that helped to make it a success
  • How Nick’s betting has changed over time and how he has had to adapt as early markets have become more illiquid
  • Working cooperatively in a syndicate and finding others who have skills to complement each other
  • Discretion and the need to be less publicly open when working in a team
  • The White Paper, ‘frictionless’ affordability checks, shocking bookmaker behaviour and the state of the debate around gambling in the UK
  • The Black Market, its growth and who is likely to use it
  • Minimum Bet Liability and why Nick feels it an impractical way of dealing with over-zealous restrictions
  • The lack of long-term thinking in the industry to try and create more sustainable markets
  • The lack of expertise at the leading firms compared to ‘yesteryear’
  • 60-70 hour weeks – managing time, taking breaks and finding ways to take a break from an all-consuming role
  • Nick’s stoic attitude towards punting (and life!) and how he meets victory and defeat with the same face
  • Exacting revenge on a rude interviewer!
  • Plans for the future
  • Pearl Jam!

Nick was a fascinating guest and in addition to his insightful views, his outlook was something else that I loved about our chat.

If you would like to hear more from Nick, you can follow him on Twitter (or X!) @nickgoff79 and he writes a regular column for the ‘Not The Top 20‘ website.

Enjoy!

🏇 An Update On The Very Best Horse Racing Tipsters 🏇

Posted on by Josh P

Ranked: The Very Best Horse Racing Tipsters

Following on from our recent Sports Tipster Profit Report, we have just released our brand new Horse Racing Tipster Profit Report featuring all of the latest results, ratings, league tables and recommendations from us for the very best racing judges.

Our 8 Hall of Fame rated tipsters are joined by 19 other top horse racing advisory services that have unique offerings for different codes of racing, odds ranges and betting strategies to make consistent profits.

Inside, you will find:

  • Updated results & figures for each tipster over the last 12 months
  • Latest ratings for everything from profitability and risk through to odds availability and cost
  • Comparative league tables to help you pick out the best racing experts
  • Our independent commentary to help you decide which tipsters you should follow in!
  • Any relevant notes on service changes, exclusive SBC Member discounts and betting bank analysis.

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For You: Find The Service That Meets Your Needs

As we all have different circumstances regarding things such as bookmaker availability, time and risk tolerances, this report has specific comparison tables to help narrow down your search to find the very best horse racing tipster for you.

These rankings include:

  • Overall SBC Ratings (with scores out of 5)
  • The best historical performance using a £2,000 bank
  • The best 12 month performance using a £2,000 bank
  • The best ‘Low Workload’ service
  • The best ‘ Low Cost’ service
  • The best ‘Odds Availability’ service (those with low price sensitivity)
  • The best ROI service

With so many options available, these rankings provide the perfect tool to filter services down before making a shortlist and finding the right tipster to start or grow your portfolio!

Read Now With A Smart Betting Club Membership

A SBC membership grants you access to this report and a host of other great features, all designed to help you make money with betting.

Now is a great time to sign-up too as our memberships are currently priced very favourably, starting from as little as £49.99 + VAT for 3 months.

The monthly cost drops considerably if you choose a longer-term membership, adding extra value for those who decide to take up annual subscriptions.

At these prices, you can often make back the subscription fee with the numerous exclusive discounts and free trials we have available. Some discounts actually save you the cost of subscription many times over, so if you have considered any of the services that we preview, SBC Membership is a no brainer!

Plus, we’re so confident that you’ll love our subscription that we’ll give you your money back, no questions asked for up to 90 days, depending on your membership term.

If you have yet to make a profit betting OR if you are looking to add more profit on top of what you already make, then the time to get started is right away.

As soon as you sign-up you are given INSTANT access to the Smart Betting Club members area and all of our expert betting content.

​Subscribe here and take your betting to the next level

🎧SBC Podcast #63: Stephen Harris From Betting Expert On Being A Bookmaker, Punter & Tipster!

Posted on by Josh P

In the latest SBC Podcast I am joined by Stephen Harris, a former bookmaker turned full time punter and tipster with decades of experience in the game.

Stephen lives and breathes betting and at the tender age of 20, he set out on his own as a bookmaker at his local dog track. Success quickly followed and Stephen built a successful career, working for industry firms alongside laying and using his nous to profit from his personal betting.

An expert in both greyhound racing and National Hunt racing, Stephen now bets full time and writes a daily column tipping for Betting Expert.

He has strong opinions especially when comes to the recent gambling legislation debate and provides clear, well-reasoned and articulate points in relation to the current betting landscape.

I hope that the powers that be are listening but aside from that, I’m sure that you will enjoy this chat!

You can listen to Episode 63 now via Apple / Spotify / Google / YouTube and all other major podcast directories (search Smart Betting Club)

An In-Depth Chat With An Experienced All-Rounder

In this episode Stephen and I discuss:

  • Bookmaking from the age of 20
  • How relentless form study and video watching helped Stephen to form his tissues
  • Taking on some of the sharpest punters
  • Working in the industry for other firms
  • His day-to-day work pricing up greyhound and jumps races
  • Networking and getting help from others
  • Modern trading rooms and the lack of ‘old school’ skills
  • Affordability checks, hapless bureaucrats and the damage they could do
  • The Black Market, its growth and the problems it poses
  • The Racing Post, the media and some of the out of touch commentators
  • On course and cash betting and whether it could come back
  • Emerging markets and opportunities around the world
  • Betting Expert and Stephen’s tipping
  • A switch to recording results to BSP

Stephen has many tales to tell and his experiences lend him well to talk with authority about all things betting.

If you would like to know more about Stephen, you can follow him on Twitter/X @Stephenh61 and find his Betting Expert column here.

Enjoy!

📈 Our Process: How We Assess Tipster Performance To Find You Winners

Posted on by Josh P

Last week I shared my personal near-40k profit betting record for Winner Odds, the remarkable tennis betting service.

For those who haven’t watched it, you can do so here as I also touch on some tips and tricks, where to place bets and the software behind the success.

This work on Winner Odds is a great example of how we research, uncover and report back on the best tipster services – those you can follow in the quest to make a profit betting.

The SBC Process

In the above video, I also touch upon the SBC process of finding winning tipster services and tools.

Winner Odds is a ‘typical example’ as it has gone through these stages:

  1. Proofing: When we are first introduced to a service we start by proofing until we can build up a comprehensive picture of how the service works and performs over time. Depending on bet volume and regularity, this can take up to 2 years as we require large samples to help us analyse performance and draw conclusions. The main requirement is having a LARGE set of data to analyse.
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  2. Independent Review: Once we have this data, we put together a detailed independent SBC review that explores all aspects of the service, its performance and our recommendations. ‘Standard’ metrics such as ROI, ROC and performance on exchanges are contextualised using statistical analysis such as Monte Carlo simulations. Very often we also add in our own real-world experience and practical advice on using a tipster, such as with Winner Odds.
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  3. Ongoing Monitoring: As time wears on, we regularly update about the ongoing performance of each tipster in our Sports Tipster Profit Reports and Horse Racing Tipster Profit Reports, with the very best performers entering our Hall of Fame. Our ‘Tipster Ratings’ (see below) give you contextual information on how each service compares.

How We Can Help You

The above outlines in brief just some of the work that goes on behind the scenes to profile the very best tipsters and Winner Odds just one of a large number of services that we track, profile and recommend.

Yet the best thing about our bank of knowledge is how easy it is to find a service that suits you.

For example – for those of you who have no bookmaker accounts available to you.

In your case you want to view our Exchange & Sharp Bookmaker tipsters where we have profiled dozens of services that are suitable.

If you have bookmaker accounts but want a low-workload service that is easy to follow?

We cover the time needed to follow a service in every report.

Are you looking to bet on a specific sport or market?

In this case, you can easily find what you are looking for in our tipster ratings and SBC Magazine directories.

Get Started Immediately

You can get instant access to all of this information, data and support with a SBC Membership.

To top it all off, we have negotiated over 40 tipster trials and discounts so that you can recoup your membership fee many times over!

More member content will be released in the coming weeks and we would love for you to join us so that you can use all of what we offer to make more money from your betting!