Mugs and Millionaires: Inside the Murky World of Professional Football Gambling

Charlie Crowhursts

Kick-off is close. The fanatic takes his bucket seat among his brethren and raises a roar from the craw. Or he tunes the radio to "full match commentary," fingers tingling.

Perhaps he is in the pub, standing beneath the big screen, gulping at a pint to ease a lumpy, anxious swallow. The rest, obsessed, will follow the action online.

These are the rituals of football supporters. Those who, every Saturday (or Sunday), will sweat and shout and scream and sing. And after 90 minutes, plus added time, they will either celebrate or sulk. If it’s a really big game, some may even shed a tear.

Regardless of a win, loss or draw, they will swear that in the cacophony of the contest, their team, that result or that referee’s decision is the most important thing in their life.

It isn’t, of course. They will go back to work on Monday...finish off that report for the boss...earn a crust...get the mortgage paid. Only during downtime at the water cooler will thoughts turn back to their passion. But for an infinitesimal section of society, it is far more than that. Football is their livelihood.

It’s not a matter of life or death. But if that team, that result or that referee’s decision goes against them, the lives of their wives and their children are affected. The mortgage does not get paid. Holidays are cancelled. They are not players or managers. They are football’s professional gamblers.

It is their full-time job to win money betting on the game. There are not many successful enough to survive. It is estimated, by the gamblers interviewed here, that fewer than 3 percent of gamblers who have what it takes to "go pro" can earn a living from betting.

No wonder they are a secretive, paranoid bunch. Never do they reveal exactly how they win their money or how much. Their greatest secret is what is known as "the edge." That nugget of information which tells them that the odds on the football betting market is wrong. Only then do they hand over their hard-won dough.

It takes hours of eye-bleeding research to find "the edge." Most pros spend hours, and thousands of pounds, building statistical models. Others will employ specialists—analysts and statisticians—to build a complex algorithm for them. If successful enough, they will attract wealthy investors who will hand over thousands, sometimes millions, to bet for them and be promised a healthy return.

Tony Bloom, a legendary gambler known as "The Lizard," is one such operator. So revered, Bloom runs Star Lizard, a company that employs a raft of people to analyse football matches for his millionaire-only investors. Bloom is rumoured to be worth more than £1 billion and owns Brighton, the Premier League wannabes.

Getty

Gambling on football matches is completely legal in the UK

Scott Ferguson, a no-nonsense Aussie, who has worked in the gambling industry for 16 years and was once a pro himself, says Bloom’s operation is far from the norm.

"There is nothing glamorous about the job. You’re in front of a computer screen for seven or eight hours a day and at unsociable hours. You’ll barely see any family, let alone friends. Bloom pays a workforce to do it all for him. Star Lizard is like pro gambling meets capitalism. For the individual punter, slaving away on his own, it can be a soulless, thankless task."

Pro betting offers a unique challenge which sees gamblers pit their wits and statistical research against bookmakers and their very own emotions. They are cold, hard-eyed analysts who reject the outdated notion that you might bet because Team A has a dodgy full-back and Team B has an outstanding winger.

The geeks are chic. They live or die by rules and regulations learnt on the stock exchange, working for hedge funds or bookmakers. Complex mathematical equations are their daily bread. They devour statistics for a snack. The vagaries of the 4-4-2 or the notion that the manager has "lost the dressing room" are irrelevant.

The sums are huge. To earn the average annual UK salary of £26,500, one would need a bankroll of around £150,000. That is because the best most punters can hope for is a return of investment between 3-4 percent. The more you gamble, the more you win. It is not unusual for a pro to turn over millions per season and place £50,000 single wagers on the result of, say, Newcastle United versus Crystal Palace
.http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2200795-mugs-and-millionaires-inside-the-murky-world-of-professional-football-gambling