Our gambling guru is hooked on reality TV
As I gleefully totted up my pot of winnings after seeing Shilpa Shetty emerge triumphant from the Celebrity Big Brother house recently, I suddenly realized how reality TV is helping to shape a brighter betting world.
Not long ago, it would have been unthinkable to spend time, say, scrutinizing DJ Spoony’s mastery of the heel turn or Peter Schmeichel’s rapport with the Strictly Come Dancing judges, with a view to making money. And if anyone had told me that I’d be rushing to my computer to back former Busted member Matt Willis to win I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! having just seen him devour a kangaroo’s anus, I would have suggested they take a trip to the local funny farm.
But the fact is that reality shows have given betting a makeover for the millennium, ushering in a new breed of gambler and adding gloss to a previously unglamorous and largely impenetrable pastime.
The image of Grandpa studying the greyhound form in a backstreet bookie’s has long faded away, and sites like bluesq.com and bet365.com are revolutionizing not only the way people bet but also what they bet on.
From trying to predict the first celeb to be pictured at Manchester’s new supercasino to forecasting the New Seven Wonders of the World, a plethora of tantalizing betting markets exist, all of them available at the click of a mouse. And with the emergence of betting exchange websites such as betfair.com, which enable you to act as both punter and bookmaker, the gambler has never had it so good.
No betting guru – regardless of claims to the contrary – can offer guaranteed financial success. If they could, I’d be on my yacht sipping champers in the Seychelles by now. My goal with this column is simply to provide pointers; to offer advice and opinion that will help give you that crucial betting edge. And along the way, I will strive to entertain as much as enlighten because, first and foremost, betting should be about fun. It’s even more fun, of course, if you can turn a profit.
As Paul Newman, playing pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson in The Color of Money, so pertinently observed: ‘Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.’
Experiencing the buzz of seeing Mark Ramprakash salsa his way to success in last year’s Strictly Come Dancing final to land me winnings at 25:1 certainly made Fast Eddie’s maxim resonate for me. I only hope that you’ll enjoy similar highs in the months to come.