I always enjoy the debate around certain tweets I send. The overwhelming reaction to the last tweet was that nothing will change because it’s the ‘norm’. The media know where their bread is buttered. The ordinary punter is uneducated about betting and doesn’t want to be.
Like all status quos I think it is good to question them, particularly when they don’t actually make huge amounts of sense. We have to remember here we are talking about trying to help educate punters. So that they bet slightly more wisely. I am not talking bookmaker restrictions etc. In this case its just about trying to help the ordinary punter improve. Even if only a small amount.
Let’s look at the problem. How is the ordinary punter served currently? They are fed a continual diet of tips and recommendations of what to bet on. Almost nothing about how to bet. A narrative is created as to why a bet is value and the ordinary punter laps it up. This has been the way as long as I can remember. It is the ‘norm’. The cost of that information can vary wildly but a lot of it is ‘free’ these days. I say ‘free’ because there is no such thing in this industry. It is simply a different revenue model to how it may have been previously. The said tipster is usually paid by the company for whomever they are providing the tips for. The great irony of course with all these tipsters is that very few of them are winning punters, ever have been or ever will be. It has become the ‘norm’ for jockeys and tv personalities to be treated as betting experts in the media. They are so under qualified for this role it is untrue. It is the ‘norm’ though. It is just strange and I am not sure it would happen in other industries.
The punter is clearly trying to be more shrewd by following someone they consider an expert. They are making a conscious decision to try and place better bets. They don’t realise that following said tipster and chasing the price in, will often be worse than picking something randomly. It’s fascinating whenever I am in shops and you listen to the conversations that go on. Apart from the absolute degenerates on the machines, the majority are trying to place bets to win money. They come up with a thought process as to why something is a bet. It can literally be anything and it can sound utterly ridiculous to the more seasoned punter. It might be performance last time out, jockey, trainer. It might be the tip on the screen from the expert. It doesn’t matter. It implies some kind of thought process towards the bet.
There is no reason why we cannot give more pointers to the casual punter. Make it the ‘norm’. Make something as simple as shopping around for prices the ‘norm’. Explain to people why it is so important. Demonstrate the difference between taking 7/2 and 4/1 each time.
I understand you may not get the casual shop punter to go to the shop across the road for better value. He likes the camaraderie in the shop he is in. If you said to them going to the shop across the road is worth £50 a year it might be different. They dont know that though.
Let’s be honest tips are not going anywhere. There is far too much money in it for all concerned. Is it too much to ask for the media to spend even just a little time trying to help educate the normal punter? Teach them some of the things about how to bet. I don’t think so. There will always be the conflict in that the media personalities are paid for by the bookmaker and it is not in the bookmakers interests for the ordinary punter to be that little bit more informed. If you want to be successful in this game you need to do everything well. You need to both place bets with a +EV and understand how to bet. It is that second part that is grossly under served at the moment. It cant just be an article in the Racing Post. It has to be something talked about constantly by the faces in the media.
So the next time you hear people espousing what bets you should be placing ask yourself this. Given the importance of learning how to bet why do they never mention it? Then ask yourself do they really have your best interests at heart…. People shouldn’t just accept the ‘norm’. Question why it is done like it is currently. The punter is currently being hugely short changed by those bigger profiles in the media. It is definitely not unreasonable to expect more.
ProPunting 