So You Wanna Be A Bookmaker? Simon's Journey

I could also have called this blog "Welcome To The Cheap Seats" which would've given The Wonder Stuff their CairnBet debut as I can't imagine that I've used "Size Of A Cow", though possibly "Dizzy" has made an appearance. Either way it wouldn't have really told the tale we are trying to tell here.

We get loads of requests from folk interested in starting up and we've had quite a few people visit with us to see how the dark arts really work. Simon was one such chap back in May 2023 when he visited us at Kelso. He was very early, we were fashionably late and I was bleeding profusely for half the day. Inauspicious. If you want to read about it, check it out here https://andystallard1967.wixsite.com/cairnbet/post/kelso-28-5-23-i-bleed Simon was instantly hooked, within very short order he had an application in for his licence. Me and Steve discussed the possibility of him coming in with us at that point but, geographically, we just didn't have enough work to offer and insufficient available business was the reason why Kevin left us a few years back. We stayed in touch, Simon got his licence, bought his gear and went with "SO Racing" (cos his name is Simon Oxendale you see?). We had visions of folk stood in front of his joint, stroking their beard and uttering "Soooo, racing, huh?". We weren't shy in sharing our thoughts with him either. Saying that, some people don't like our stones so you can't please everyone.

Early 2024 and me and Steve had another chat. Because, you see, despite him being a United fan (from East Yorkshire, obviously), having appalling musical taste, and labouring under the misapprehension that he was a good looking boy, we found we liked him. But we still lived in Northern Scotland and he still lived nearer to Amsterdam than Perth so we offered him some worker stuff to get his experience up. The first one was a double header at Musselburgh in February - I suspect he'd never known cold like it, even in East Yorkshire. Turned out he was very good with the punters and we had a spectacular day on the Saturday, topped up by a solid day on the Sunday. There's no such thing as luck but, if there was, maybe he had a touch of it. A few more worker days and we felt like we could work with him, the issue being that there isn't enough work for 3 where we live. There might be where he did though....

Rewind 12 years or so to when me and Steve started. Both fully employed at the time, we spent two seasons grinding our day jobs and our new fledgling bookmaker business. There was barely a day off. We didn't take a wage for 2 years and just reinvested what we won into more and better pitches. We continued to reinvest any spare cash we had over the years. We'd done the hard work years ago and, a few years ago, felt we had the portfolio of pitches we wanted and the time had come to take our wages as we earned them.

Consequently we had no desire to keep reinvesting our earnings at this point but we did have a few quid in a "pitch fund" having sold Cartmel and Kelso and wondered whether there was something we could do. We didn't have enough for a ton of front line pitches in Yorkshire but the germ of an idea formed that we may be able to pick up some cheaper, but workable, pitches in Yorkshire and just work the big days where it may be possible to get a wage for Simon, who was still working full time anyway. Newcastle was our blueprint - big lawns that were serviced by back line pitches and an old silver ring which was workable a couple of days a year. Was there anything like that elsewhere we wondered?

We spoke to quite a few bookmakers in Yorkshire (thank you - you know who you are) and the obvious one that came back from them was York. Back line workable on the big days and you could get on with a modestly priced pitch.

So in Spring 2024 we picked up pick number a million at York, which was always Simon's dream to work. Though not necessarily from pick a million. We brought him on as a rep, which meant the shelving of "Hmm, SOOOOOO, Racing, then", and loaded him up with York, gave him access to our Hexham pitch and also a few meetings at Newcastle that we couldn't service, and is much more commutable for him than us, and said we'll see how it goes.

We also had a couple of double pitches which we were going to sell (Musselburgh NH and the aforementioned Newcastle - both codes at the time) which we decided to hang on to and work both alongside Simon instead.

York went well and we had our, albeit very modest, investment back pretty quickly and were nicely profitable by the end of the season.

Come 2025 and we wanted to see if we could expand our back line options for Simon- Ripon and Thirsk were immediately suggested by our colleagues as viable options off the front line at a low entry cost and pitches were dutifully secured (the last number at Ripon - being last on not always the worst option). The other two we went for were Pontefract where we repeated our "last on" adventures from Ripon and Beverley which is Simon's local course and we had one there which gave us an outside chance of frontline on occasion or an early choice of a corner if not.

Beverley started with a bang and a cracking result in May followed by a whimper as we gave most of it back over the next few but everything we went to had enough turnover and book value to know that, long term , we will be just fine there. Thirsk will forever be known as "Second line in the gap" as Simon's nemesis with a shocking pick first out and he'll be big enough to admit that he got it nearly as wrong the 3rd time out as well. Early setbacks but a jackpot day in early August means we are nicely ahead there with one to go, We'll certainly drop one meeting we went to but the rest were easily workable.

"Last On" Ripon has been spectacular results wise - we tried an evening meeting early in the season which was unworkable, but Simon had his biggest day of the season anywhere on the August Saturday and, whilst the Bank Holiday Monday is a marginal call for next year, we somehow had another very good day in context of take this year. Holidays meant we missed a big day in July but we'll rectify that in 2026.

Ponte Carlo has been steady, if not spectacular, though we can boast we've had a return of 10 times our purchase price! Don't look too deeply at the starting factor... We think it'll be a workhorse, at best, for us but, again, we're not disappointed given the tiny initial outlay.

And, finally, York. It looks like we'll turn a similar profit to last year and we've invested in a centre course pitch. We may have a little go at double pitching a few times next year (despite the distance for us up here in the frozen North) and having one in Tatts and one on the course gives us options depending on layout and weather.

Next season we'll start to consider moving up here and there should availability and finances allow.

Simon has been great and we're delighted we've invested in him, both financially and personally. His work ethic is terrific and he never makes the same mistake twice. We'd love to think that his part of the business will continue to grow as we are more restricted in terms of geography (and age!).

So, if you're starting out, it can be done. Do your research. Don't run before you can walk. Work your arse off. You'll make mistakes - we made millions and it was almost a relief to see Simon make much the same ones we did. But he's never made them twice. And he's never forgot the card machine. Not once.

You'll pick wrong. Sometimes because you predict the wrong crowd flow, sometimes because the weather changes, sometimes because somebody picnics in your gap and, just once in a while, because you're reading the pitch layout upside down.

You'll take 100 quid of coins when you need £1000. You'll run out of fivers and scrounge 20 quid's worth off every book along the line.

You'll get the time wrong and miss pitch in by 5 minutes on the biggest night of the year, relegating yourself to a pitch in no man's land.

You'll go when you shouldn't and miss when you should.

You'll take the wrong bet at the wrong time and leave yourself in a hole you can't get out of.

You'll buy the wrong sausages.

We've done all of them. Every one. Though the sausages are all Kevin. But, as Butch Harmon once said in a rare moment of insight (when he's not talking directly to golfers who can't hear him) "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want".

So there we have it. The first tentative steps on the road to what, we hope for Simon, will be a long and profitable venture with us. We're glad he rocked up at Kelso...

Finally we're always happy to help anyone that's looking to get involved. Please DM me on Twitter if there's anything you'd like to ask. Good luck!