Professional gambler tackles the bookies

DOYENS of betting will be interested to hear about northern-based Paul Cooper, a successful professional gambler who regularly visits Carlisle’s summer flat meetings, writes MIDGETODHUNTER.

For obvious reasons, he avoids photographs, but he is a familiar face on northern racetracks. He lives near Thirsk in north Yorkshire.

In 1988, Paul won £250,000 on one flat race at Thirsk, having spotted a freak result the previous day at the same course, and over the same six furlongs distance on which he was gambling.

He realised that there might have been a watering discrepancy on the Thirsk track, as the high-drawn horses consistently filled the frame. Furthermore, there were surprising distances between the placed horses and the rest of the field, which also suggested that the high-drawn horses were racing on drier, and therefore faster ground.

His stake was £432, the winning line was £16.50, the first three horses home were 33-1, 25-1 and 20-1, the dividend was over 13,000-1 and there was a 25 per cent. bonus on winning tricasts. The prediction had come good and his winning payout bet should have been £282,000, but and he still complains about this Ladbrokes imposed a winning bet limit of £250,000!

For several years, Paul held the world record for the highest recorded winning bet, which was in the Guinness Book of Records for several years.

“I have always been a statistician and could see that the highest drawn horses had a definite advantage, as the others were racing on slower ground. And over six furlongs that was making an obvious difference at the finish line,” said Paul.

He added: “The racecourses have, to a degree, sharpened up their act as far as watering goes since then, but not all watering systems are accurate, and the same does and will happen again, I’m sure of it.”

Paul has since decided to tackle his old adversaries, the bookies, with another angle. He is now a director of Sportingoptions, a person-to-person betting exchange which offers the punter the option to back or oppose a selection.

“I have always believed that bookmakers gave the public a poor service, they return little to their main product of horseracing, and their margins are around 18 per cent.,” said Paul. “And the option to oppose a selection was never previously available.

“Speaking as an experienced punter, these exchanges are the future, as there is no bookmaker’s margin, and the exchange is almost always higher than the official starting price,” he said.