My problems with online and offline gambling

[geordiecolin]

Snipped

Please please PLEASE, sit down and have an honest talk with yourself.

GL. P.M. me anytime.

Thank you for your kind offer sir. However I do not feel that I have a problem right now. I just want to listen to other peoples experiences and chat about my ups and downs with gambling

 

[geordiecolin]

Oh yeah.

There's that.

This is getting expensive

Please diss your Mrs more then I will not have to chase that big hit on JATB

 

[EbeeDog]

Snipped



Thank you for your kind offer sir. However I do not feel that I have a problem right now. I just want to listen to other peoples experiences and chat about my ups and downs with gambling

Sorry man, I misunderstood. I hope I was not too forward.

At any rate, GG on starting such a fascinating thread. I have enjoyed reading and following it on and off all day. Outstanding comments, all of you.

 

[geordiecolin]

Sorry man, I misunderstood. I hope I was not too forward.

At any rate, GG on starting such a fascinating thread. I have enjoyed reading and following it on and off all day. Outstanding comments, all of you.

No worries and thank you. I hope that a lot of folk find the thread useful

 

[Balky]

GG

The most interesting thread since i joined CM, and that was 9 years ago. Thanks to the OP and the other contributors
I tried it all in the past four decades, from B&M casinos, slot and VP machines, sport bets, poker etc. After several considerable losses in my younger years I set my mind to enjoying the play - mostly slots - with ONLY small lowrolling bets and lately participating in freerolls. Going after the big adrenaline kick with huge wins will always require big stakes and eventually lead to an inevitable financial breakdown. I think that raising bets can eat even life changing wins.

Cheers

B.

 

[Steviedoo]

Really happy to read that mate.

I never returned to my full capacity, although i breezed through my uni time. Once you lose some years it becomes very difficult for the brain to reach the performance from a few years earlier, especially when it comes to advanced mathematics. No chance.

You know, i jumped from 1st to 3rd, from 4th to 6th grade, finishing secondary school 2 years early, then cut my high school years from 4 to 2, then college where after 1 year i got invited to take the test for that special college. Passed it and was just about to start when i discovered gambling and thought: "hey, that's easy money, you're smarter than those machines", which of course I am not since the house edge will always skew the results from natural/logical to programmed randomness.

Took me years to find my happiness, which was aided by the voluntary work i did for an organization helping addicts of all kinds.

From this experience, i can say today that addictions are all the same, no matter if drugs, booze, gambling.... all are looking for that "dopamine rush". And you would be surprised how many kinds of addictions exist and how many people are addicts. It's just that hardly anybody wants/dares/can talk about it.


LOL... my story is now not so short anymore

Harry...you are the best on here.
Just wondering if you've ever tried to figure out the machines...mathematically speaking.

If that's even possible which if it were someone somewhere would have done so already...

 

[Jd666]

My experience is just echoing what others have posted really.

Starting with the fruities in the early 80's when it was £2 token Jackpots, I always remember sneaking into an arcade underage and putting 10p in Adders & Ladders and got nudges (didnt know what i was doing) Just pressed Autonudge and got a quid, collected it and got thrown out lol, straight over to the record shop to play Defender and Scramble.

Than went on holiday in the Summer after i left school and couldnt keep out of the arcades, I was hooked then.

Got a job and my wages used to go in them more often than not.

When the £4 Jackpots came out, i started getting my revenge on them as was learning a few tricks, and those Bell Fruits where you got skill climb to £2 repeat were decent earners for me

Then came the £4.80 Jackpots, that was it then, All my nights out paid for with those, except the one time on a hit the six which really did me, i ended up taking a cheque to Morrisons and cashing one for £50, that was when they still used the old carbon copy machines, had no money in bank but they couldnt check it, it took all that off me too and tried cashing another, but they said can only do one a day.
Next day i was at Morrisons again with a cheque, and the day after.
Then got a letter from my bank.
Dont know what was up with that fruit machine but it woke me up.
Nothing like that happened again on the Project machines, i started doing quite well out of them, you had to be perepared to put the money in to get them streaking.
No point going in an arcade with a tenner or so as you would probably just lose it.

Then came £6 Jackpots, £8, £10, £15, £25, £35, £70, £100 over the years.

From the £25 era, i started losing interest except for the Low Techs (Party times, Bullion Bars ETC)

Then came online gambling, loved it at first, it was Playboy Casino which got me interested, withdrew £70 from a no deposit bonus, then came Ladbrokes, then hooked again but always made sure bills were paid first.

Lasted a while but then wife got poorly so i didnt play as much.

Nowadays i can go days without depositing, mostly i get bored even though i play online because i am bored.
Im glad im a small depositer and low roller, because if i bet big and get a massive win, then i would want to just get an even better buzz, so i just stick to low rolling, besides i cant really afford to deposit big as those problems will start up again.
Im never going to be rich from it, but never going to be poor from it either.

Still pop in the arcades when i go to the coast for an hour or so, but mostly stick to the Fiver Jackpots for a bit of fun, even though those can be evil sometimes, but its the same as the early days, if you have enough on you, then you have a better chance of a recovery.

Even the fiver Jackpots can pay £20 - £40 streaks sometimes, ones like Golden Game can do even more, so i can now understand the new breed of addict coming through as kids are allowed to play these.
Imagine being about 8 year old and getting a £30 streak.
With my many trips to the coast, you get to recognise faces and made many friends over there, but im also starting to recognise kids faces in the arcades, so i feel sorry for them as at the moment they are only losing pocket money, when they grow up it will be a lot worse.

So thats it, I cant take or leave Gambling in any form, never even touched a FOBT, thank god.

Oh, and i have never ever reversed a cashout.

 

[Harry_BKK]

Harry...you are the best on here.
Just wondering if you've ever tried to figure out the machines...mathematically speaking.

If that's even possible which if it were someone somewhere would have done so already...

Thx Stevie.... i am flattered but at the same time i know there are far better/smarter people on this forum and even more in this world.

At the beginning I thought i would be able to easily figure out the machines by writing down an X amount of cycles and doing some calculations. And indeed, it proved quite successful as they were quite simple in the late 80's, in Germany most had 3 rotary wheels where all symbols were visible. Got kicked out from many places after winning too much, which i attribute today not just to my calculations but also beginners luck. But that is what got me hooked and made me stray away from my studies. At some point all my energy was concentrated on that as i saw it as a challenge to master them.

I know, it's stupid but addiction is not happening over night, it is a slow process which sucks you in more and more every day until it is very difficult to do a turnaround.

Mine was even further delayed because for some reason i had always jobs that paid really well, hence money was never a big problem. Only when a good friend suggested that i should do the voluntary work did it change because i saw there the bad, the ugly and the really ugly bad side of addiction, no matter if it is gambling, drink, drugs etc.

Today all slots/machines run on programmed randomness, purely because modern technology/software makes that possible. I'll happily be proven wrong.

Last but not least, especially video slots are great addiction catalysts which work on subconscious level. We like to call it eye candy but trust me, it is there for one reason only.

 

[Harry_BKK]

Inspiring to read all your stories and thanks Jon for starting this thread!

Funnily enough, I haven't even thought about gambling the greater part of my life until the year 2006 (and I joined CM in 2007) when I started online gambling (roulette at first, then turning to video slots, much more fun). My heaviest addiction to date is tobacco and (like Jon) I am unwilling to quit.

I did (and still do) have episodes of uncontrolled gambling and the only way to deal with it is to reduce the size of my deposits. I've been making deposits from € 100 to € 10,000 a week until the beginning of 2015. Now I force myself to deposit small amounts, once or twice a week, never exceeding € 60. This helps a lot since it gives me some sense of control over my entertainment spending. Other than that, I devote time to reading study books for the blind twice a week, which to my mind "entitles" me to embark upon a few nightly gaming sessions every week.

All my friends and family know of my "attachment" to gambling, some call it a sickness, but they also see that I am doing reasonably well money-wise. But whatever their thoughts on the matter, I am unwilling to quit as I still enjoy every second of it!

Harry, what a moving experience you shared! Advanced math is not your everyday talent and with a brain like yours I can understand that you so much regret having spent all these years gambling while you could have become a leading math professor instead. BUT there are (plenty of) people who get their PhD late in life, some even in their eighties, so it is never too late to enroll (again) in an academic study (even if it's not advanced mathematics).

Thx Mouche.... that is the main reason for my plans to retire at 55

 

[geordiecolin]

Snipped.

My experience is just echoing what others have posted really.

Starting with the fruities in the early 80's when it was £2 token Jackpots, I always remember sneaking into an arcade underage and putting 10p in Adders & Ladders and got nudges (didnt know what i was doing) Just pressed Autonudge and got a quid, collected it and got thrown out lol, straight over to the record shop to play Defender and Scramble.

Than went on holiday in the Summer after i left school and couldnt keep out of the arcades, I was hooked then.

Back then we could prise open one side of the slot with a screwdriver then insert a peace of coat wire to click free credits. Many places took time to cotton on to this scam and we did pretty well. Then there was sticking string on a coin and "dipping" the coin to achieve the same effect

I also recall when I was may 10 going on my holibobble's to a place called Haggiston Castle where a quite new caravan resort had opened up and with it an arcade full of second hand amusements. They had a "penny falls" machine where you shot a 2p down the shoot and had to land it between the lines in order to win. At the back the huge door was broken and it was easy to get behind and collect the money. I was chased through the resort with a pocket stuffed with 2p's and threatened with prosecution and eviction from the site when they eventually caught me.
I loved it

 

[Jd666]

Snipped.


Back then we could prise open one side of the slot with a screwdriver then insert a peace of coat wire to click free credits. Many places took time to cotton on to this scam and we did pretty well. Then there was sticking string on a coin and "dipping" the coin to achieve the same effect

I also recall when I was may 10 going on my holibobble's to a place called Haggiston Castle where a quite new caravan resort had opened up and with it an arcade full of second hand amusements. They had a "penny falls" machine where you shot a 2p down the shoot and had to land it between the lines in order to win. At the back the huge door was broken and it was easy to get behind and collect the money. I was chased through the resort with a pocket stuffed with 2p's and threatened with prosecution and eviction from the site when they eventually caught me.
I loved it

My biggest cheat of the early 80's were unchipped Line Ups.
The amount of 2 quids i got out of those lol.
Had 2 of them in my local, then someone grassed me up so they chipped them.
Was in tokens though but could play all the other Barcrests with the tokens.

And a taxi rank had a 5p rebuild of JPM Lucky 2's.
£1.50 cash Jackpot.
Turn plug switch on and off fast and it used to spit £1.50 out at a time.

 

[hedgehok]

Last but not least, especially video slots are great addiction catalysts which work on subconscious level. We like to call it eye candy but trust me, it is there for one reason only.

It can help a lot if you turn off animations and especially sounds when you gamble online. It's easier to stay level-headed when there is not too much bling bling and noise.

Thx Mouche.... that is the main reason for my plans to retire at 55

Fantastic point. It's actually something I intend to do too if possible. My generation is likely supposed to work until 70 and I have different plans with my life than working until I'm 70. Getting 1-2 other degrees with 50-60 is realistic and greatly rewarding. Do you have an idea what and where you are going to study?

 

[Jono777]

These are the slot 'emptiers' I have ENJOYED! over the years, and I mean empty, If I was in the right mood or in a venue in a town we were extremely unlikely to worry if they chipped or removed the machine, we would even build up an IOU, just to take the piss the little bit more

Ace Coin - Camelot / Hi-Flyer / Open the Box and all other associated skins

Project Coin - 777 heaven / Jackpot 7's

BWB - Monte Carlo or Bust / Reno Reels (Faves and quick to empty)

Maygay - Fight Night / The Great Escape / The Italian Job (Couldn't totally empty but give em a good bashing)

Barcrest - Up N Over / Lotto Luck / The Jackpoteers

Made a small fortune but most or it went over the bar in some watering hole or another.

Edit: Travel lots of the UK to 'fill my pocket' some of the betters Towns / Cities,

Chester - A gold mine!! - 'Bashable' machine in virtually every pub
Stafford - Unreal set-up - machines were virtually full (£125 hopper) every time we went, no one knew how to play there!
Shrewsbury - Loved the town, so many pubs and bars with the machines we needed, even got on good terms with landloard in one and stayed the night after emptying her machine lol.

 

[KasinoKing]

Although this is a little out of date now (written in 2006), I've copy and pasted this direct from my website (About KK - How Did I Start page) for the benefit of anyone who hasn't read my gambling story yet and to save me having to write it all out again...
(Warning - it is quite long! :Read

"I first gambled at the age of about 14 or 15 when my older sister’s boyfriend took me to his local pub. They had a Fruit Machine there which in those days I think was only about 2p/spin. My cousin and I used to waste our pocket money on a glass of coke & this fun machine.
For those who know what a Fruit Machine is, please skip the next paragraph!

For the benefit of those lucky readers who don’t have ‘Fruit Machines’ in their country - this is a machine that looks fairly similar to a US Slot Machine, except that they have all sorts of feature games, holds, nudges, skill stop, flashing lights etc. The main difference though is that they are not random! When the reels spin the position they stop in is not just by random chance, they are predetermined by the machine's CPU. It is extremely rare to get a win by just lining up 3 Fruits – most of the wins come from the result of entering the ‘Feature Game’ which is equally not random. The other big difference is the payout ratio. In Vegas the slots payout around 95-98%, UK slots are normally around 78% and I have seen several in Motorway Service Stations set to 70%!! Basically all they are is a machine that you put a ton of money into to watch a load of lights flash. Even knowing this (as the majority of players do) they are still incredibly addictive and extremely hard to give up once you get hooked. And the darned things are everywhere – pubs, clubs, take-aways, bus stations, train stations, airports, etc – you can’t get away from them!

When we left school and got our first job, we were still hooked on these infernal machines, and it was not unusual for us to pick up our pay-packet on a Friday, go straight down to the arcade and blow half our wages in just a couple of hours. As the years passed I carried on wasting money on the machines, but I never got into really serious debt – I only played with my ‘disposable income’. But looking back, it was such a waste. If I had shoved that cash into the bank instead of a flashing lights machine I would have had literally £10,000’s saved up. That sounds crazy, but look at the maths; Waste £20-30 two or three times a week = lets say £75 a week = £300 a month = £3,600 a year!

I realised that this was just plain silly, and it became a regular new-years resolution to stop playing the Fruities. The word ‘regular’ indicates my success rate! In my best ever year I actually managed to stop playing them from January to September, but have not got anywhere close to that since. (Yes, I do still occasionally play them now!)

I first got interested in casino play sometime in the mid 90’s, and made a few trips to our nearest one which was the Grosvenor Casino in Brighton – 35-miles away. Because of the distance I only went about 6-7 times a year. I played BlackJack with reasonable success, and kept trying various Roulette schemes that I invented – also with some success. Overall I guess I lost, but it was less loss than playing fruities & far more fun! In the late 90’s the casino put the Blackjack minimum up from £2/hand to £5/hand, and the minimum Roulette chip up from 25p to 50p. This pretty much put a stop to my casino visits because if I couldn’t go and be guaranteed to get at least a few hours entertainment for £100, I was not going to bother.

Around this time I also started dabbling in Horse Race betting. Like all my gambling, I would develop ‘schemes’ to try to increase my chances of success. With horses I would select one runner from all the races on a Saturday using newspaper tipsters, and then bet on each one, increasing my stake each time I did not get a winner. This was fun and sometimes successful, but very time consuming. The biggest flaw with this plan of course, was I would often lose on 5-6 races and end up winning on a hot favourite which had only tiny odds that did not cover my previous losses! Or even worse, that I wouldn’t get a winner in 6-7 races and would ‘bottle out’! My next plan was based on having a ‘pool’ of funds and then betting a fixed % of this pool on only the hot favourites. As the pool increased, so did my bets, and vice-versa. I did this for several months and it did actually work, but the problem with this one was again the amount of time involved. I would have to spend 1-2 hours studying the form & tips etc to pick my horses and some days I would frustratingly conclude there wasn’t one worth betting on. So I soon stopped.

It was during this horse experiment in January 2001 that I bought my first ‘Internet ready’ PC. The main purpose of this was so I could place my horse bets online, rather than the inconvenience of having to take a trip to the bookies, or phone them up. So the first thing I did when I got online was sign up to William Hills online sportsbook. It was not long before I started looking for online casinos and naturally William Hills was the first one I joined. Amazing to think really, that more than 6 years later Will Hill is still my favourite casino! The others I recall joining in those early days were Alps, Roman, Grand Online, and best of all I discovered Intercasino!
But at first I fell into the most dangerous trap of online casinos; when you mix 24hr availability in your own home, a credit card with a high credit limit, and a false belief that your betting pattern really can beat the odds and the casino… you get a recipe for disaster!

I soon got hooked, and would make deposit after deposit, each time in the hope that I could somehow recover my earlier losses. One thing that sticks in my mind was I got four-of-a-kind 3 times within a couple of months playing Let-it-Ride at Will Hills. These wins were very nice, but this unusual occurrence only helped to fuel the idea that I could win online. (I think I have only ever hit 1 four-of-a-kind since!)
I did not keep records then, but I estimate I must have lost £1,000 - £1,500 from Jan to April. At the end of April my total credit card debt was £3,900 (not all from gambling!) and I knew I had to stop. But I also knew that it was going to be extremely hard to give up gambling which had become an integral part of my life – so I decided to just give up losing instead! I came up with the ‘other other plan’ (Monty Python fans will get that!); I would only deposit if I was getting at least 100% match bonus; I would meet the WR and then stop & move on to the next casino and the next bonus. My main target each month became not to try to beat the casino & win a fortune – but just to finish the month without making an overall loss. Another bonus hunter was born…
The rest, as they say, is history!

I never imagined this plan would be so successful, but 6-years later it’s still working! From May 2001 onwards I recorded every deposit, every bonus, every win, every loss, every withdrawal, and later even details of which games I played & their results at every casino I played! This is how I know exactly how much profit I have made each month since May-01.

This plan literally changed my life. It was a very slow process, but winning really is twice as good as losing. When you think about it, it’s a double whammy for your debts - if you make £200 profit from gambling in a month where you would previously have lost £200 – you are actually £400 better off! By November 2003 I had paid off ALL my credit card debts (not all debt from gambling!), which is a very, very nice feeling. Since then my winnings have helped buy stuff for the house, a wireless laptop for me (so I can play online anywhere in the house or garden!), and I even used my Neteller ATM card for all our spending money when me ‘n’ the missus went to my favourite place on the planet in May 2004! (Las Vegas – where else???)

In August 2004 I was scanning the web for some casino advice sites, when by chance I came across the CasinoMeister Online Casino Watchdog site. Turns out this is the best casino guide & forum on the internet! It was great to find this community of fellow gamblers who share a common interest; because most of my friends & family think a BlackJack is a little chewy sweet! You will find me lurking there most evenings, sharing and learning useful casino info (and amusing banter!) with other players.
It was here that I found the ‘Winner Screenshots’ thread of great slot & VP wins, and it was due to this that I started playing slots at that time. I was apprehensive at first, expecting them to be like UK ‘Fruit Machines’, but they are totally different animals and I have had some great fun & super results from them. (Some pretty bad disasters too!) I’m not saying I’ve made great profit from them, but it’s interesting that I made over 3 times more profit in 2005 including slots play, than I did in 2004 mostly not playing them…"

Current day update:
I carried on bonus hunting until the end of 2010. Then, having just had our second child, I found I just didn't have the time or the enthusiasm for it any more. I had made profit from bonuses for 9 years straight - but I just couldn't be bothered to carry on.

Of course, I carried on playing (with and without bonuses) but I stopped recording every detail and just enjoyed it instead. I still play slots virtually every day - I probably only have about 15-20 days off them per year!
Had some good wins and some bad losses, and no doubt I am definitely down in the last 5+ years. But it is all totally disposable income and has no impact at all on my normal day-to-day life.

All my family and friends know I gamble online and promote online casinos - it's not a problem.

Thanks for reading!
KK

 

[Jd666]

These are the slot 'emptiers' I have ENJOYED! over the years, and I mean empty, If I was in the right mood or in a venue in a town we were extremely unlikely to worry if they chipped or removed the machine, we would even build up an IOU, just to take the piss the little bit more

Ace Coin - Camelot / Hi-Flyer / Open the Box and all other associated skins

Project Coin - 777 heaven / Jackpot 7's

BWB - Monte Carlo or Bust / Reno Reels (Faves and quick to empty)

Maygay - Fight Night / The Great Escape / The Italian Job (Couldn't totally empty but give em a good bashing)

Barcrest - Up N Over / Lotto Luck / The Jackpoteers

Made a small fortune but most or it went over the bar in some watering hole or another.

Edit: Travel lots of the UK to 'fill my pocket' some of the betters Towns / Cities,

Chester - A gold mine!! - 'Bashable' machine in virtually every pub
Stafford - Unreal set-up - machines were virtually full (£125 hopper) every time we went, no one knew how to play there!
Shrewsbury - Loved the town, so many pubs and bars with the machines we needed, even got on good terms with landloard in one and stayed the night after emptying her machine lol.

Was the monte carlo one to do with nudging sevens above win line then holding for nudge next go.
Only camelot one I knew was the jpm one, nothing there on 4 nudges gave jackpot if I recall correctly.
777 one I found out too late but did well on them anyway.
Only thing I knew on great escape etc was refusing Red boards.
And didnt have a clue about lotta luck, I got proper stiffed on that one day so didnt touch them again.
Not got a clue about all this deal or no deal stuff about nowadays, dont touch them anyway

 

[Harry_BKK]

It can help a lot if you turn off animations and especially sounds when you gamble online. It's easier to stay level-headed when there is not too much bling bling and noise.

Fantastic point. It's actually something I intend to do too if possible. My generation is likely supposed to work until 70 and I have different plans with my life than working until I'm 70. Getting 1-2 other degrees with 50-60 is realistic and greatly rewarding. Do you have an idea what and where you are going to study?

It is not just the sound and animations. I just give you one example: the famous "missed by one reel position" which happens much more often on video slots as the normal randomness actually "allows". If you have just one of that missing symbol on a reel strip and a wild you would expect it in that position maybe 2/50 or 100, depending on the length of the reel strip, yet 8-9/10 times it is displayed exactly in the position above or below where it should be.

This is programmed to create excitement and disappointment in a very short sequence. Subconsciously a player will long again for the excitement and keeps feeding the slot in the hope that next time the required symbol will stop in the right position.

My thinking when i look at it. There are many more things I could list here that have a similar impact, we just don't realize it that easy, especially newbies. I'll eat my words if i am proven wrong

As to what i am thinking to study ......hmmmm, did the mathematics and my brain wouldn't be fit enough to do something similar again (i could get through it but i don't want to just tag along), hence it will be something more leisurely ...philosophy, art...the likes. And it will be somewhere in Asia or Australia.

 

[goatwack]

It is not just the sound and animations. I just give you one example: the famous "missed by one reel position" which happens much more often on video slots as the normal randomness actually "allows". If you have just one of that missing symbol on a reel strip and a wild you would expect it in that position maybe 2/50 or 100, depending on the length of the reel strip, yet 8-9/10 times it is displayed exactly in the position above or below where it should be.

This is programmed to create excitement and disappointment in a very short sequence. Subconsciously a player will long again for the excitement and keeps feeding the slot in the hope that next time the required symbol will stop in the right position.

My thinking when i look at it. There are many more things I could list here that have a similar impact, we just don't realize it that easy, especially newbies. I'll eat my words if i am proven wrong

As to what i am thinking to study ......hmmmm, did the mathematics and my brain wouldn't be fit enough to do something similar again (i could get through it but i don't want to just tag along), hence it will be something more leisurely ...philosophy, art...the likes. And it will be somewhere in Asia or Australia.

I've always found that being skilled in mathematics is a natural gift. Yes, you can teach those not as able to learn methods and techniques as aids (cue South Park episode) but you either 'have it' or don't. Perhaps in your case it's more a case of having a refresher, like with anything numerical-based but I guess you may not have the motivation to do so again, understandably.

In regards to the arts, that is something that cannot be taught either but you can enhance what talent you have. It certainly sounds a lot less stressful! I wish you all the best in whatever venture you take up next!

 

[geordiecolin]

My biggest cheat of the early 80's were unchipped Line Ups.
The amount of 2 quids i got out of those lol.
Had 2 of them in my local, then someone grassed me up so they chipped them.
Was in tokens though but could play all the other Barcrests with the tokens.

And a taxi rank had a 5p rebuild of JPM Lucky 2's.
£1.50 cash Jackpot.
Turn plug switch on and off fast and it used to spit £1.50 out at a time.

I don't really understand this unchipping sorcery?


Here's some startling recent statistics.

One in five uncontested divorce petitions in the UK sites gambling as a reason for the split.

12 Billion per year is lost due to gambling in the UK,which is about £500 per household and 3.2 Billion is due to online gambling.

London Police forces alone where called to 12,000 cases where punters kicked off at bookies after blowing their money on FOBT''s

 

[timmy19733]

I don't really understand this unchipping sorcery?


Here's some startling recent statistics.

One in five uncontested divorce petitions in the UK sites gambling as a reason for the split.

12 Billion per year is lost due to gambling in the UK,which is about £500 per household and 3.2 Billion is due to online gambling.

London Police forces alone where called to 12,000 cases where punters kicked off at bookies after blowing their money on FOBT''s

I don't get it either!

....and your statistics, are you serious or was it on the back of the Sun?

 

[geordiecolin]

Although this is a little out of date now (written in 2006), I've copy and pasted this direct from my website (About KK - How Did I Start page) for the benefit of anyone who hasn't read my gambling story yet and to save me having to write it all out again...
(Warning - it is quite long! :Read

"I first gambled at the age of about 14 or 15 when my older sister’s boyfriend took me to his local pub. They had a Fruit Machine there which in those days I think was only about 2p/spin. My cousin and I used to waste our pocket money on a glass of coke & this fun machine.
For those who know what a Fruit Machine is, please skip the next paragraph!

For the benefit of those lucky readers who don’t have ‘Fruit Machines’ in their country - this is a machine that looks fairly similar to a US Slot Machine, except that they have all sorts of feature games, holds, nudges, skill stop, flashing lights etc. The main difference though is that they are not random! When the reels spin the position they stop in is not just by random chance, they are predetermined by the machine's CPU. It is extremely rare to get a win by just lining up 3 Fruits – most of the wins come from the result of entering the ‘Feature Game’ which is equally not random. The other big difference is the payout ratio. In Vegas the slots payout around 95-98%, UK slots are normally around 78% and I have seen several in Motorway Service Stations set to 70%!! Basically all they are is a machine that you put a ton of money into to watch a load of lights flash. Even knowing this (as the majority of players do) they are still incredibly addictive and extremely hard to give up once you get hooked. And the darned things are everywhere – pubs, clubs, take-aways, bus stations, train stations, airports, etc – you can’t get away from them!

When we left school and got our first job, we were still hooked on these infernal machines, and it was not unusual for us to pick up our pay-packet on a Friday, go straight down to the arcade and blow half our wages in just a couple of hours. As the years passed I carried on wasting money on the machines, but I never got into really serious debt – I only played with my ‘disposable income’. But looking back, it was such a waste. If I had shoved that cash into the bank instead of a flashing lights machine I would have had literally £10,000’s saved up. That sounds crazy, but look at the maths; Waste £20-30 two or three times a week = lets say £75 a week = £300 a month = £3,600 a year!

I realised that this was just plain silly, and it became a regular new-years resolution to stop playing the Fruities. The word ‘regular’ indicates my success rate! In my best ever year I actually managed to stop playing them from January to September, but have not got anywhere close to that since. (Yes, I do still occasionally play them now!)

I first got interested in casino play sometime in the mid 90’s, and made a few trips to our nearest one which was the Grosvenor Casino in Brighton – 35-miles away. Because of the distance I only went about 6-7 times a year. I played BlackJack with reasonable success, and kept trying various Roulette schemes that I invented – also with some success. Overall I guess I lost, but it was less loss than playing fruities & far more fun! In the late 90’s the casino put the Blackjack minimum up from £2/hand to £5/hand, and the minimum Roulette chip up from 25p to 50p. This pretty much put a stop to my casino visits because if I couldn’t go and be guaranteed to get at least a few hours entertainment for £100, I was not going to bother.

Around this time I also started dabbling in Horse Race betting. Like all my gambling, I would develop ‘schemes’ to try to increase my chances of success. With horses I would select one runner from all the races on a Saturday using newspaper tipsters, and then bet on each one, increasing my stake each time I did not get a winner. This was fun and sometimes successful, but very time consuming. The biggest flaw with this plan of course, was I would often lose on 5-6 races and end up winning on a hot favourite which had only tiny odds that did not cover my previous losses! Or even worse, that I wouldn’t get a winner in 6-7 races and would ‘bottle out’! My next plan was based on having a ‘pool’ of funds and then betting a fixed % of this pool on only the hot favourites. As the pool increased, so did my bets, and vice-versa. I did this for several months and it did actually work, but the problem with this one was again the amount of time involved. I would have to spend 1-2 hours studying the form & tips etc to pick my horses and some days I would frustratingly conclude there wasn’t one worth betting on. So I soon stopped.

It was during this horse experiment in January 2001 that I bought my first ‘Internet ready’ PC. The main purpose of this was so I could place my horse bets online, rather than the inconvenience of having to take a trip to the bookies, or phone them up. So the first thing I did when I got online was sign up to William Hills online sportsbook. It was not long before I started looking for online casinos and naturally William Hills was the first one I joined. Amazing to think really, that more than 6 years later Will Hill is still my favourite casino! The others I recall joining in those early days were Alps, Roman, Grand Online, and best of all I discovered Intercasino!
But at first I fell into the most dangerous trap of online casinos; when you mix 24hr availability in your own home, a credit card with a high credit limit, and a false belief that your betting pattern really can beat the odds and the casino… you get a recipe for disaster!

I soon got hooked, and would make deposit after deposit, each time in the hope that I could somehow recover my earlier losses. One thing that sticks in my mind was I got four-of-a-kind 3 times within a couple of months playing Let-it-Ride at Will Hills. These wins were very nice, but this unusual occurrence only helped to fuel the idea that I could win online. (I think I have only ever hit 1 four-of-a-kind since!)
I did not keep records then, but I estimate I must have lost £1,000 - £1,500 from Jan to April. At the end of April my total credit card debt was £3,900 (not all from gambling!) and I knew I had to stop. But I also knew that it was going to be extremely hard to give up gambling which had become an integral part of my life – so I decided to just give up losing instead! I came up with the ‘other other plan’ (Monty Python fans will get that!); I would only deposit if I was getting at least 100% match bonus; I would meet the WR and then stop & move on to the next casino and the next bonus. My main target each month became not to try to beat the casino & win a fortune – but just to finish the month without making an overall loss. Another bonus hunter was born…
The rest, as they say, is history!

I never imagined this plan would be so successful, but 6-years later it’s still working! From May 2001 onwards I recorded every deposit, every bonus, every win, every loss, every withdrawal, and later even details of which games I played & their results at every casino I played! This is how I know exactly how much profit I have made each month since May-01.

This plan literally changed my life. It was a very slow process, but winning really is twice as good as losing. When you think about it, it’s a double whammy for your debts - if you make £200 profit from gambling in a month where you would previously have lost £200 – you are actually £400 better off! By November 2003 I had paid off ALL my credit card debts (not all debt from gambling!), which is a very, very nice feeling. Since then my winnings have helped buy stuff for the house, a wireless laptop for me (so I can play online anywhere in the house or garden!), and I even used my Neteller ATM card for all our spending money when me ‘n’ the missus went to my favourite place on the planet in May 2004! (Las Vegas – where else???)

In August 2004 I was scanning the web for some casino advice sites, when by chance I came across the CasinoMeister Online Casino Watchdog site. Turns out this is the best casino guide & forum on the internet! It was great to find this community of fellow gamblers who share a common interest; because most of my friends & family think a BlackJack is a little chewy sweet! You will find me lurking there most evenings, sharing and learning useful casino info (and amusing banter!) with other players.
It was here that I found the ‘Winner Screenshots’ thread of great slot & VP wins, and it was due to this that I started playing slots at that time. I was apprehensive at first, expecting them to be like UK ‘Fruit Machines’, but they are totally different animals and I have had some great fun & super results from them. (Some pretty bad disasters too!) I’m not saying I’ve made great profit from them, but it’s interesting that I made over 3 times more profit in 2005 including slots play, than I did in 2004 mostly not playing them…"

Current day update:
I carried on bonus hunting until the end of 2010. Then, having just had our second child, I found I just didn't have the time or the enthusiasm for it any more. I had made profit from bonuses for 9 years straight - but I just couldn't be bothered to carry on.

Of course, I carried on playing (with and without bonuses) but I stopped recording every detail and just enjoyed it instead. I still play slots virtually every day - I probably only have about 15-20 days off them per year!
Had some good wins and some bad losses, and no doubt I am definitely down in the last 5+ years. But it is all totally disposable income and has no impact at all on my normal day-to-day life.

All my family and friends know I gamble online and promote online casinos - it's not a problem.

Thanks for reading!
KK

Great read KK. Part of me wishes I had online gambled online slots back in the day when bonuses where not the pathetic up to x 60 deposit and bonus mallarky

 

[geordiecolin]

I don't get it either!

....and your statistics, are you serious or was it on the back of the Sun?

The statistics are official government statistics released last week and the marriage detail are official statistics from Divorce online,the official online agent that deals with uncontested divorces

 

[Harry_BKK]

I've always found that being skilled in mathematics is a natural gift. Yes, you can teach those not as able to learn methods and techniques as aids (cue South Park episode) but you either 'have it' or don't. Perhaps in your case it's more a case of having a refresher, like with anything numerical-based but I guess you may not have the motivation to do so again, understandably.

In regards to the arts, that is something that cannot be taught either but you can enhance what talent you have. It certainly sounds a lot less stressful! I wish you all the best in whatever venture you take up next!

Cheers mate.

Can't agree more regarding maths and arts. Either it is there or not. In my case it runs in the family, my father was a maths geek but could never study as after WWII there were other more important things, my grandfather was maths & physics professor, my great grandfather scientist, my great great grand father the first ever teacher from my village.

That's as far as the village records went back because a big fire in 1851 destroyed most of them, prior to that the church had a pretty bad record keeper, hence, they are not comprehensive. We salvaged a part with modern technology and they are now in a museum in Germany but i was never able to go further back in my family history.

The normal maths logic part of my brain will always be there. I could still do normal equations and calculations in the blink of an eye. That changes once you try advanced mathematics, to build up again all those synapses i lost in some 30 years, which would enable me to perform at a high level, is sheer impossible.

Hence it will be something "easier"

Art is something i was never really good at, probably because of the way my brain works. Ergo to master that would be a great challenge to keep my cells active until a late age.

Philosophy has been my hobby for many years. E.g. discussing why we are build as we are, what reason did nature and its evolutionary ways see in us to let us develop to where we are today, yet other beings lack what looks to us as the most primal necessities, could there be other species around that are on the same path as we humans and just need another 2Mio years to get there or that life is a one time thing or maybe not, these kind of things can keep me talking all day and night. Hence, my wish to take it up should i go back to uni.

All still some 7-10 years away depending how life will be in the next years and of course, the financials have to be in order, which I am quite positive about that i will get where i need to be.

After all there is this great English saying: "you never know what is around the corner".

 

[dealer wins]

Talking of fruit machine emptiers takes me back to the mid 80s

First it was loads of machines with "Skill Cash" feature. The bell fruits you could nick £5-10 per machine, the Barcrests were all empty-able (Cashzone etc)

Then came the hugely popular Ace machines (HiDeHi, Payrise, High Flyer etc) By switching them off and on you could empty them in about 30 minutes. Made stupid amounts a day for over a year as me and my mate actually discovered this trick and travelled the motorway service stations getting round nearly all of them once a week. (We even took the power lead out of the other machines so people would play the Aces and fill them up again lol)

Switching off also worked on ALL the maygay machines (Monopoly, Searchlight etc)

After that many more years of skilfully playing machines, the occasional emptier and finally stopped playing about 14 years ago. Found online poker and sportsbetting with sports seeing me right to this day.

I am truly grateful for the money they have made me. I spent, blown, wasted, enjoyed more money than sense but boy has it been fun.

Met some very strange people along the way that were into the more dubious side of emptying machines.

 

[Oriel]

Talking of fruit machine emptiers takes me back to the mid 80s

First it was loads of machines with "Skill Cash" feature. The bell fruits you could nick £5-10 per machine, the Barcrests were all empty-able (Cashzone etc)

Then came the hugely popular Ace machines (HiDeHi, Payrise, High Flyer etc) By switching them off and on you could empty them in about 30 minutes. Made stupid amounts a day for over a year as me and my mate actually discovered this trick and travelled the motorway service stations getting round nearly all of them once a week. (We even took the power lead out of the other machines so people would play the Aces and fill them up again lol)

Switching off also worked on ALL the maygay machines (Monopoly, Searchlight etc)

After that many more years of skilfully playing machines, the occasional emptier and finally stopped playing about 14 years ago. Found online poker and sportsbetting with sports seeing me right to this day.

I am truly grateful for the money they have made me. I spent, blown, wasted, enjoyed more money than sense but boy has it been fun.

Met some very strange people along the way that were into the more dubious side of emptying machines.

Interesting what is the more dubious side to emptying machines??!

 

[Deeplay]

I used to hide my gambling when married to ex biatch ... but being free now i can happily indulge. I went through a period 2008 ish where I gambled insane amounts most of it online some offline. I hated it and got to a very low point. Tried everything to quit. Even installed different gaming blocking software but being in the line of work I was took me about 10 mins to take the thing apart. It did not work. Spent or wasted literally 100s of 1000s no joke. But money was rolling in back then (and rolling out ) Quit for around 2 years but fucking love the game too much. Love the interaction on the forums, the chat , the drama , its not just wheels spinning. Plus Im building a little website which is for my passion rather than profit so its a big part of "leisure time"

So because of the above reasons I totally re-invented the way I gamble. Learned the art of doing it in a responsible way that never leaves me short ever.

I use every RG tool online mainly depo limits and TAB --- but rare if ever now SE. Playing responsibly is possible Im living proof of that. But i would not advise for someone who truly feels its too powerful a pull the games the bright lights. I don't like loosing ever... who does but these days when I loose its not the house or a family.

I really feel for people who struggle and it becomes a demon rather than fun. I know im never gonna get rich from gambling unless I hit 65 rhinos or DOA WL on max bet. Which I wont ;-)

But in the end we make our choice. I never moan about losses I take the hit but now its always under control. Right now im on a short 1 week break, my casino list is pretty small , 10 max I think with active accounts. Next week I will hit it again but only within my own set limits.

Never gamble to pay the rent - and never the gamble the rent....

read the above in a Charles Buokowski novel i read years back and I hold by that today every day