Question about betting (possible SSP)

Have you ever betted (or been tempted to bet) a large amount on something with really short odds?

Example: Bet365 were offering 1/33* on England to beat the West Indies today. A bet of £3,300 would give a nice £100 return, and the chances of it going wrong are pretty slim. However, losing £3,300 would be pretty devastating.

Save for the odd raffle ticket, I don’t ever gamble. (I’ve never even bought a lottery ticket). Really, I was just wondering if many people end up getting baited by short odds on near-certain outcomes.

*1/66 now

A large amount? no. A small amount, yes.

I always think the risk outweighs the rewards in these sort of situations.

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Nope. Never really been tempted to gamble, outside of the odd lottery ticket.

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If you get an offer of a free bet which is matched to what you put on I normally put it on something that’s gonna win. Put £90 on nadal to win a first round match somewhere once for example.

Seems a bit pointless to do it normally

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I’ve played the lottery loads of times. That’s betting with shocking odds.

And I go to Brighton Races most years around my birthday, but I don’t think I’ve ever bet more than a fiver because 50% of my bets seem to lose, and I go for a different day out rather than to gamble.

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Betting companies are not set up to lose money, so consistent/long term betting is a foolish endeavour imo.

Having said that I do have a Ladbrokes account and I will bet on the Grand National and the odd other thing - adds a bit of excitement to a sporting event. But I’d never bet to the extent that if I didn’t get my money back I would miss it.

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I think for most people it’s a very bad way to gamble, unless you are wealthy enough that losing the stakes wouldn’t impact your life.

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I’m actually surprised I didn’t fall into a lifelong gambling addiction tbh - as I won a tenner on the very first lottery and also won about £100 on my very first grand national bet.

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Admittedly i know nothing about cricket but that seems a terrible bet - pretty good outside chance Gayle could have blasted a match winning innings wasn’t there?

I spent a large chuck of my twenties and early thirties working in betting shops and I always feel that the short odds are more of a con/ risk than the long ones.

I’d definitely miss the £66 required to win £1 in that situation (especially when there are three possible outcomes), whereas putting the same amount on 66-1 would be a very small risk for a much better return (even if it’s much less likely.)

The house always wins, and I’ve seen people betting on sure things lose four and five figure amounts because there’s no such thing as a sure thing.

TBH this is one of the reasons I stay well clear of gambling (as well as a religious upbringing, which means I don’t gamble or use the Lord’s name in vain, in spite of all my other shortcomings). I reckon I’d probably be arrogant enough to assume I could outwit the bookies, and end up financially ruined.

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WI were skittled out for 212 and England were something like 40-0 in reply at the time…

3,300 for a return of 100 seems ridiculous.

I mean I can imagine putting 100 on a 300-1 long odds thing because the return is a chunk of house deposit or something but I can’t imagine want 100 quid that badly while also having access to a spare 3,300

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oh fair enough - thought you meant before the match had started.

Oh lol no, those would be terrible odds.

I guess the logic is:

  • x event is a nailed-on certainty
  • £100 would pay for a nice meal out or something
  • there’s no way I’m going to lose the £3,300 and it’s worth a couple of hours of whiteknuckling it on cricinfo to reap the reward.

I mean, it would be a ridiculous thing to do, and there’s not a chance I’d have done it, but I guess that’s the (flawed) logic behind why someone might do it.

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Never touch those short odds bets, there’s no such thing as a sure thing in sports betting and I don’t have the disposable cash in the amounts you’d need to win anything. I bet £5 or so a week during the football season, mostly on 100+/1 accumulators or long odds first goalscorers and a score cast on the Argyle game. When I ran a pub with racing on TV I used to do a very small amount on that too but I never bet more than I’d miss and never ever expect to win.

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in the days before the lottery I used to work on a building site where there were a few old geezers who used to put bets on the horses pretty much everyday. They basically had a small weekly betting allowance and would put tiny bets (£1/£2) on low odds, at the end of the week they might have lost a few quid but had lots of fun checking out the form etc or they had a few extra pints on Friday night. Seemed harmless enough but big bets seems like a recipe for disaster.

:tired_face: