What's the largest sum of money you've ever placed on a single bet?

[tenofspades]

I did something like where I laid the favourites in a horse race, and doubled the stake each time if it won. And something silly like 7 favourites won in a row, so I lost 50 pounds, and that was the end of my stupidity betting.

 

[HangTime]

That's effectively a variant of the martingale system (typical example being betting red or black in roulette), the problem is you need a large bankroll to sustain the inevitable rise in stake required that will eventually happen and/or you hit a limit in what maximum stake is allowed.

I did something similar with Tennis, kept laying the server to the win the game because eventually a serve must be broken (even if you have to wait for the 5th set). Because the odds were quite long it meant the stake didn't escalate as quickly as if I was doubling it each time. But it's still a flawed system because of the margin taken by the bookmaker.

 

[Glanza]

£100 on the Mayweather vs Pacquiao boxing match, not placed a bet since unless you count meme stocks like GME last year.

 

[Baldbloke]

Apparently. I have an addictive personality. So says my missus, anyway.

I've been lucky. 30 years ago I started dabbling in gambling. Just a couple of quid. Not started getting in to it properly. This was my early days in the bookies.

on the dogs, I bet on a 4 win accumulator. First three won. 4th dog got pipped at the post by a flared nostril in a photo finish. If that 4th dog had won I'd have picked up £700 (In 1986) and I'd be a compulsive gambler immediately following that race.

Not to give up too soon though... I then placed a few quid on a horse. It was a certainty. (Yeah) Fortunately for me this three to one ON certainty got beat by a 25 to 1 outsider.

Made me realise that I ain't going to get rich by gambling. Stopped betting. Thank goodness that horse got battered.

BTW I wish tv would stop advertising casinos and gambling. They are as bad as drug pushers when it comes to gambling.

 

[Street]

Including matched betting, probably a few hundred on a single bet but I was pushing thousands through bookies then, my bank statement was just a list of deposits to different bookies day in day out.

I'm generally adverse to losing money though so very very rarely place real bets, and even then the most would be a tenner.

I did something like where I laid the favourites in a horse race, and doubled the stake each time if it won. And something silly like 7 favourites won in a row, so I lost 50 pounds, and that was the end of my stupidity betting.

I did something similar to that years ago, placing really low odds bets on football on things like under 5 goals when there were 20mins remaining. I started with a tenner, just placing the whole amount each time and made it up to about £200. I banked the lot and bought myself a camera with it, then tried it again and lost my tenner a couple times so gave up. The first time was just pure fluke.

 

[adam cool dude]

£50 at the greyhounds for a stag do.

I was drunk as a skunk and put a quid on every dog just so I could have a winner.

I did get a proper winner in one round after the old guy told me to bet on a dog that had just taken a dump.

 

[Lopéz]

£2500 on a Rugby match. Won £500.

Quit while i was ahead,

By the way the lottery is not Gambling, its a straight up rip off scam

The lottery isn't gambling, it's a lottery...

 

[SexyGreyFox]

£2 a week

By the way the lottery is not Gambling, its a straight up rip off scam

Over the years I've won enough to keep paying my £2 every week without putting more in.
At the moment I have £64 in my winnings which will last another 32 weeks but that will be topped up by winnings.

 

[Holst1981]

£2 a week



Over the years I've won enough to keep paying my £2 every week without putting more in.
At the moment I have £64 in my winnings which will last another 32 weeks but that will be topped up by winnings.

You are doing better than me.
I never win anything but another ticket occasionally.

I don't play every week but sometimes I'll put £10 on 5 tickets on Monday and spend a week feeling like Dellboy "next week I'll be a millionaire"

I'm well aware that I'm much more likely to be dead next week than win, but the lottery ticket makes me feel more positive no matter how long the odds.

Plus my partner works in the arts and is often subsidised by the lottery.
There are much worse ways to waste money.

I don't gamble on anything else as whenever I do I tend to lose.

 

[philstanbridge]

I tend not to bet, but my wife likes a flutter. If it counts she has £10k in stocks and shares. We also bet on the national, and occasionally the lottery. My aunt won £300k on the lottery as part of a syndicate. They won the jackpot, and a friend of my wife won £1mill.

 

[DeliciousStorage]

Technically it isn't a tax (rather a social security contribution), although it behaves a lot like one, which is why it could be considered a not very stealthy tax. But that was just an example we can ignore that example and move on, others claim Student Loan repayments are a 'stealth tax', which I disagree with too but consider to have more merit than classing gambling as a stealth tax.

I can't countenance having gambling as a 'tax'. It's nonsense in my eyes, we may as well call anything that costs money a tax. I understand that statistically lower income households are more likely to buy lottery tickets etc but really that still doesn't make it a tax because it's all optional. You can't refuse to pay income tax but you can refuse to play the lottery. When I was poor I paid zero 'tax' on gambling but I did pay income tax - I didn't start gambling until I was not poor. Are football tickets a tax on the poor as well?

This argument that it can't be a tax because nobody is forced to play seems like nonsense, it's a tax on the people that do and lack the knowledge of how badly they are getting ripped off. Is VAT not a tax because nobody is forced to buy items with VAT on them?

 

[gc123]

£2 a week



Over the years I've won enough to keep paying my £2 every week without putting more in.
At the moment I have £64 in my winnings which will last another 32 weeks but that will be topped up by winnings.

dont you just love the emails though......first few times i got up in the middle of the night to log in to find my win was about 3 quid mainly only do euro now ......

 

[SexyGreyFox]

dont you just love the emails though......first few times i got up in the middle of the night to log in to find my win was about 3 quid mainly only do euro now ......

They are horrible because you think "This is it".
I also do a £1 a week in a euro Syndicate.

 

[Orangeade]

Put equivalent of most peoples life savings on outcome of brexit. The brits didn't let me down. Thanks guys.

 

[dlockers]

Put equivalent of most peoples life savings on outcome of brexit. The brits didn't let me down. Thanks guys.

Judging on the financial prowess of most members on here - that could be anything from £50 to whatever a Ferrari 458 costs

 

[HangTime]

This argument that it can't be a tax because nobody is forced to play seems like nonsense, it's a tax on the people that do and lack the knowledge of how badly they are getting ripped off. Is VAT not a tax because nobody is forced to buy items with VAT on them?

I wondered how long it would take for someone to bring up VAT - your analogy is a fallacy because VAT is not charged/sold in isolation. You don't choose to buy VAT - you choose to buy an item that may be subject to VAT.
For this analogy to be valid, gambling would have to be an additional mandatory option taken when you bought another item. Buy a toy and be forced to buy a lottery ticket with it for example. The choice element being, do I buy a toy or not. But you aren't forced to buy gambling with a toy, because it isn't a tax. It is entirely optional REGARDLESS of what other items you buy. You could literally buy millions of items and STILL not have to pay for gambling. Whereas you would have to pay the VAT on the items it was applicable to.

To put it another way, VAT is a by-product of the purchase of another item. Gambling isn't. You are explicitly choosing to spend money on gambling. A direct affiliation. VAT on the other hand is an indirect affiliation based on your decision to buy something else. Some people might not even know whether they are paying for VAT or not when they buy an item.

If you chose to buy no items at all with VAT on them, that wouldn't mean VAT isn't a tax, because it would still be mandatory for others who did buy items with VAT. The applicability of VAT isn't impacted by whether you personally do or don't buy anything.

Going back to my earlier point, if we go down this path that it is a tax because if you choose to pay for it, you have to pay for it, then effectively that infers that everything you choose to pay money for is tax (it isn't).

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

By the way the lottery is not Gambling, its a straight up rip off scam

And regular gambling isn't? Both are a stealth tax on the poor.

The difference is guys that most gambling has an RTP of between 80% and 97%.

The lottery only has an RTP of 50%. That's why it is a scam.

As for me, the most I gambled was £1000 in premium bonds for 5 years and it won sweet FA. At least I didn't lose the £1000, but it was a pointless exercise all the same.

 

[bainbridge]

I spent £20 on lottery tickets after winning x2 £10, but then didn't win anything. I've only put money on the grand national once, about £10, and lost. I'm in a lotto syndicate at work and 12 of us put £10 in per month, the most we've won is £108. We currently have £160 in our pot which we'll probably spend on drinks when we have a team Christmas meal.

I'd love to win enough money to give up work and live comfortably, but gambling doesn't have that fascination for me that it has for some people.

 

[dlockers]

The difference is guys that most gambling has an RTP of between 80% and 97%.

The lottery only has an RTP of 50%. That's why it is a scam.

As for me, the most I gambled was £1000 in premium bonds for 5 years and it won sweet FA. At least I didn't lose the £1000, but it was a pointless exercise all the same.

Think you've confirmed I should cash out of PBs lol.

 

[bainbridge]

The difference is guys that most gambling has an RTP of between 80% and 97%.

The lottery only has an RTP of 50%. That's why it is a scam.

As for me, the most I gambled was £1000 in premium bonds for 5 years and it won sweet FA. At least I didn't lose the £1000, but it was a pointless exercise all the same.

Premium bonds isn't gambling Your money is safe, there's no risk of losing it.