You would think bookmakers would be welcoming new customers and other customers however many times they bet with them? Some appear not to be.
The following quote is taken from a bookmaker’s correspondence to people who promote their business online, “Due to the poor quality of Grand National customers.” Apparently this is what they think of once a year punters (you). You are “poor quality”, probably because you only give them one chance per year to take your hard-earned. We have evidence this company is not alone (screen-grabs proving our claims).
These bookmakers will also try to ensure these once per year customers do not get some of the deals their regular losing customers obtain. Regular winning customers, by the way, do not exist as the bookmakers ban them all. We hear you gasp, “That can’t be right.” Oh yes, it is, just about the only customers who win regularly and are allowed to continue betting on horse racing and other sports are MPs who lobby for the industry and media people who always write or say nice things about the industry.
Despite this startling fact, please do go ahead and have your bit of fun. The fun is always better when you win though. Sorry, we cannot guarantee this, because we are not liars. The Grand National is a race where picking the winner is really, really difficult. What you can do though and it’s quite easy, is to ensure you win as much as possible if you are lucky enough to back the winner or a placed horse each-way. All you need to do is follow these simple rules:
1. On the morning of the race, type the following into Google, ‘Oddschecker UK grand national odds 2017’. Make sure you ignore all the adverts at the top of the Google returns and the adverts on Oddschecker when you arrive at the website. The webpage will list all the Grand National runners and their odds at over 20 different bookmakers. Most of these companies only take bets online or on the telephone, but you will recognise some names from shops in your area. Always bet at the best odds available dependent on whether you choose to bet online or locally in a shop. Why go into your Ladbrokes shop for a bet if your local Betfred shop is offering better odds on your chosen horse or vice versa. As an example one of the fancied runners this year is called ‘One for Arthur’. At the time of writing it is best priced 16-1 and worst priced 11-1 on Oddschecker. Meaning if you placed £5 on it to win and it won you would get £85 back from one bookie and £60.00 from the other: Same horse, same bet, you would be silly not to bet at the better odds as you will receive £25 more back.
2. This one is crucial. As an inexperienced punter do not place your bet the day before the day of the race or earlier, bet during the morning of the race and ask the shop cashier for a price (make sure you’ve checked it online first & make sure the cashier initials the odds taken), or online take the price being offered by clicking on it, DO NOT click on SP. Never bet at what is called SP on the Grand National (SP = starting price, which is the price the horse is deemed to be when the race starts). You may not have noticed this, but the SP in the Grand National for most (not all) horses is a much worse price, especially if you have backed one of the favourites. See this article written by an expert statistical analyst on racing for another independent view: https://www.timeform.com/horse-racing/features/rowley/Rowleyfile_Investigates_The_Great_Grand_National_Rip-Off
3. If your local shop or online bookmaker is offering something called ‘best odds guaranteed’ this is also important. It means when you take a price during the morning of the race, and in the unlikely event that the horse is a bigger price at SP you will get the bigger price. Conversely, if it is shorter at SP (perhaps likely) you will still get the bigger morning price you asked for.
4. Some bookmakers will be offering to pay each-way on the first 5 or 6 finishers as opposed to just 4, at one quarter the odds. If you do like to bet each-way this is really good, but it may not be available local to you? Be careful though, some bookmakers do appear to provide this offer, but the prices will be 1/5 or 1/6 the odds as opposed to 1/4 (not good news).
And that’s it.
Like we’ve said, none of this guarantees you will win, but what it does guarantee is the best payout for your chosen stake if your horse wins or is placed if you bet each-way.
Be very wary of anyone telling you they know what will win, especially if they ask for money for their advice.
Be even more wary of any bookmakers that offer massively inflated prices online, because this is likely to mean you will have to have a number of other bets with them before you can withdraw your money, assuming by then you have any left.
We hope this helps and best of luck on Saturday: Enjoy your bet.
‘Justice for Punters’
ps: Remember DO NOT gamble using stakes you cannot afford and certainly DO NOT bet with money you have borrowed. BE SENSIBLE.
