No One Understands..

No one understands indeed. Ever try to explain gambling to your mate down the pub who know absolutely nothing about it? Ya might as well talk to the wall. The biggest problem is people often reject something they dont understand, instead of looking dim, they'd rather dismiss the topic, or whatever, for example "cricket is boring" is often used by people who dont understand the rules/terms, when in fact cricket is probably the most nervy sport to watch at times. Theres many examples. But the normal bloke thinks all gamblers lose.

So, Paddy Power goes on Liveline (an Irish radio station) to explain why a customer has had his account closed. He won €15,000. Thats why you got closed down mate. Que absolutely every tom, dick and harry ringing in to give Paddy an absolute roasting. All of whom talked shite in my opinion, nevertheless Paddy came out of it looking very, very bad.

A couple of reality checks here..

Firstly, the bloke who won the €15,000. Fair played to him and he sounds fairly shrewd without understanding how bookies work. You know in reality we'd all be delighted to win €15,000 off a bookie before being closed down, I think its a good innings, anyone that read last year will remember I got closed down by Sky Bet after having €400 to €500 on Go Native, so it could of been worse, €15,000 is a lot of money. And he still has any number of other bookies to go to.

Another point is, he bet with PP the whole time. Ever heard of best price? Ever heard of Betfair? Thats a no then. Most books will close winning accounts down, but chop and change things will obviously last longer. People hate bookies but theyre not the worst in the world.

Anyway onto the nutters and the funny bits.. the bloke who thought they kept records of his hand writing. Jaysus. It gets worse.. the bloke who thought they had CCTV on him when he walked into shops. Please. (Paul Sheridan, its gas! At 18mins in) Youre never alone with a schizophrenic! C.S.I PP coming out soon! Obviously anyone who bets knows theyre talking nonsense, but the general public think its all true, and even rang in to say so FFS.

The bloke who talked about your man crying because he lost all his money and smashed the screens with a chair. That made the evening papers here at the time. He didnt lose any money, he went mad because they wouldnt let him bet on a race that was over. Sounds shrewd doesnt he.

Lastly, and the most important issue, the thing about not closing losing accounts.. you know every man is in control of his own personal affairs and it is NEVER anyone elses fault bar yourself if you lose. I mean people are blaming PP for losing, whats he suppose to do you know, people bet of their own accord. How can you explain it you know, if a person is losing they should know to stop themselves, I cant put it into exact words but you get the idea, if people want a bet they'll bet. And every bet is their choice. Youre opening a whole can of worms, like why do McDonalds still serve obese people and why do off licences serve alcoholics, that type of thing.

The point is, if something is wrong its up to you to correct it and you only. I had it instilled into me at a young age to never be jealous of another person, because no matter what they do or have, I could have it too if I put my mind to it and wanted it enough. We all seeth at players and teams at times but at the end of the day we did the bet, and thats life.

Its 40 minutes long now but its fairly interesting listening, just down a bit on the link, you'll see Paddy Powers name there from Friday. But it does go to show, us gamblers are a minority and the real world will ever understand us..

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/

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A update on the cat, hes getting a little bit better, no life saving injections this week anyway (so far!) and hes better today than he was yesterday you know, that sort of thing, slowly but surely. He still has a horrid cough, his breathing is getting better though. Thanks for all the well wishes, its nice to know everyone likes him, everyone that comes to house knows tom though, you know tom is tom. Its appreciated. As for my gambling, havent had a bet but gonna try get back into things this afternoon, nothing major, fivers and tenners and see how it goes. Bet to finish level, I know that makes no sense whatsoever, my target for the day is to bet and finish without losing, rather than not bet and then cant lose. As I said, no one understands whats in my head, not even me..

PS. I know you all watched Countdown this week after the photo.