Years ago, I knew one quite well. It was in the mid 1980?s.

He was called Tony Ansell, and used to drink at my local which was the Duck in the Pond in Harrow Weald. He was always doing betting specials on the darts blackboard, acting as the pub bookie. At the start of an NFL season, he put ?50 in the New York Giants to win the super bowl at 16-1, and won a huge amount of money, well it was to me then! I had no idea why he picked the Giants and he explained why he thought it was a value bet, a new term to me then. He laid the bet off (also a new concept to me) so that he made a few quid regardless of the result.

It was around that time he got in trouble with Ladbroke or Hills as he wrote a piece in one of the broadsheets implying that the big firms used to try to influence the starting prices on the tote on certain horses if they stood to lose money if a certain horse came in. It was a sort of laying off, but on a bigger scale.

He also said that even back then he was banned from many bookies as he was too good a gambler.

I think that he?s still around now, and has made a fortune over the years. I would do a GIYLF, but the results would be banned at work.

Posted By: KentonCanary, Mar 19, 15:35:33