Last month we promised you something special for the first anniversary of Highlander, and it's not so much a classic system as a classic con. How about a system where you just cannot lose - guaranteed? I've seen all that before, I can hear you say. I certainly have, but this time it's true, absolutely true. There is one snag, however.
Before going on to my shameful story, let's digress to consider a modern source of guaranteed profit - arbitrage betting. As I understand it, arbitrage betting started life in the stock exchange, making a profit by dealing in different markets at different prices, and then expanded into spread betting on a whole variety of sporting markets. Now there are opportunities for profitable arbitrage betting on the odds offered in all sports. Two things have contributed to this possibility - the abolition of betting tax, because arbitrage betting operates on small profit margins which the betting tax could wipe out, and secondly, the use of the internet which gives the punter access to a very wide range of odds offered by many different operators, and the chance to take advantage of such odds quickly by punting on the internet with such operators. Just in case anybody is still wondering what arbitrage betting is, here is a quick explanation. We'll take a tennis match between Sampras and Agassi. On the Internet you find a bookie offering these odds - 4/6 Sampras and 11/10 Agassi. Then you find another firm taking a different view. They go 11/10 Sampras and 4/6 Agassi. You quickly back Agassi with the first at 11/10 and Sampras with the second at 11/10 also. So, no matter what the result you have made a 5% profit on your investment. There's no risk, it's quick and it makes your annual interest on your Building Society account look a bit feeble!
And one final word on the subject; I have given a very conservative example at 5% profit. Whilst profits may never be huge percentage-wise, it is often possible to achieve much higher profits than the example I have shown. My own classic con with guaranteed profit takes me back to 1974 - a year I remember well because then, for once in my life, I felt wealthy! Looking back, I honestly cannot remember whether I saw the idea for it somewhere, or whether I worked it out for myself. Whatever, I knew that my plan would not be acceptable to any reasonably sharp-witted bookie, so perhaps I was fortunate in the one I approached. Without naming the organisation, it was one of the Big Three, with a name that would appeal to a Highlander! The shop manager could not have been the brightest silk in the weighing room, for when I put my plan to him, with nothing concealed, he said that the bet was perfectly acceptable. I was quite sure that if he'd looked at his company rules displayed on the wall, he would have discovered otherwise. Anyway, this was the plan.
'Stop at a winner' betting and betting 'down the card' are methods which most bookmakers will accept. My variation was stop at a winner, betting down the field - and with one big proviso. First things first. The stop at a winner betting was on one race at a time. Let's say the 2.30 at Ascot was a five horse race. 1.A 2.B 3.C 4.D 5.E. My bet was £10 win, down the field, stop at a winner - £50 staked. If horse A won that was it - all the other stakes were returned and I had the winnings on horse A. But if horse E won, I had lost the stakes on A, B, C, and D, but won on E. Let's say that horse E was the even-money favourite, so I had lost £40 and won £10, a loss of £30. That was how I presented my idea to the manager, and he fell for it - but that was not quite how I put it into operation. I would only have bet on that 2.30 race at Ascot if the betting on the race was roughly as follows.
1.A at 2/1, 2.B at 3/1, 3.C at 4/1, 4.D at 5/1, and 5.E at 6/1. That would be a perfectly normal market of just under 110%. With my same staking of £10 down the field, stopping at a winner, I would be guaranteed a profit of £20, no matter which horse won. Obviously, the betting didn't have to be exactly as I have given it, but as long as it roughly followed that pattern of increasing as it went down the field, then you couldn't lose. And I can assure you that there are plenty of races where that pattern applies.
When I was using the system I would occasionally choose a race where I was sure to lose a little, just to make it less obvious what I was up to, and sometimes I would take a chance on a race where I could win a lot or lose a little. On one or two occasions I had winners at 100/1! That was a real bonus.
Of course I couldn't expect my good fortune to last forever. After about nine months or so of continuous winning, I was called aside by the manager one day, and very apologetically he told me that he had been instructed by Head Office to stop accepting these bets. In truth, I'd been expecting it for some time. I experimented later, with some success, on variations of my idea that just could be acceptable, and I might return to them in a later contribution, but the golden days had gone. However, if anyone out there finds a bookmaker who'll take the bet, I'd love to hear of your success.
There are other ways, of course, of making money, as our horse's name for this month would suggest. I'm sure it will ring a bell with some of our readers. The horse is Wait For The Will by Seeking The Gold out of You'd Be Surprised! Again, I've got to applaud the cynic who came up with that comic idea.
To round off this first anniversary, we have a special system that complements legally our own classic con. I'll give an idea of what it is all about by quoting from the original advert. "Select a rock solid banker, then combine this banker with each of a further five selections from five different races, making five win doubles. If your banker is a winner, and just one of the other five selections wins you will have a winning double, but strange as it may seem, you will not have any losing doubles. Your stake is directed on to the winning double. But how?" It goes on to say that if the banker does not win and you have just one winner from five, then you recover 90% of your total stake. And if your banker wins at 7/4 or more, and all the other five lose, you will recover all your stakes plus a small profit. It all sounds mysteriously good and is called the Punters' Revenge System Plus Six. It is essential to write your bets out exactly as per the examples, and to ensure accuracy in this respect it is strongly recommended that you get a good supply of betting slips so that the betting slips can be made out in the peace and quiet of your own home, rather than in the hectic atmosphere of the betting shop.
Write down a list of your selections and label them A, B, C, D, E, etc, as per the example.
A. Pebbles
B. Oasis
C. Sheer Gold
D. Plover
E. Ringer
Banker
Fill in the name of each selection on the betting slips which follow, making absolutely sure that you keep to the same pattern as shown on each slip. The stakes on the doubles and singles can be varied to suit your own pocket, but try to maintain the same proportions.
This method of betting gives you a decided advantage, and it has been used very successfully over many years. The six betting slips are set out as follows:
Stop At A Winner Stop At A Winner
10 p win selection A 10 p win selection E
10 p win selection B 10 p win selection A
10 p win selection C 10 p win selection B
10 p win selection D 10 p win selection C
£5 win Double £5 win Double
Selection E Selection D
And Banker And Banker
Stop At A Winner Stop At A Winner
10 p win selection D 10 p win selection C
10 p win selection E 10 p win selection D
10 p win selection A ` 10 p win selection E
10 p win selection B 10 p win selection A
£5 win Double £5 win Double
Selection C Selection B
And Banker And Banker
Stop At A Winner Stop At A Winner
10 p win selection B 10 p win selection A
10 p win selection C 10 p win selection B
10 p win selection D 10 p win selection C
10 p win selection E 10 p win selection D
£5 win Double 10 p win selection E
Selection A £25 win Banker
And Banker
Footnote. You may care to experiment with different numbers of horses, either more or less than the example, but you must stick to the same patterns.
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