Betfair | Rugby | Geoffrey Riddle

Geoffrey Riddle

I have been working in the betting industry for almost eight years now. I have been employed by Sporting Index, Channel 4 racing, The Racing Post and more recently, www.statsonsport.com. I relish the endless battle between punter and bookmaker and to be fair, the whole exercise appeals to my argumentative nature.

“I think this team is better than that one”.
“No it isn’t”
“Alright then, I’ll bet you...”
Come on, we all know it is the definitive way to end all disagreements.

I used to play a lot of sport, particularly rugby and cricket. However, I refused to take creatine, was too lazy to do weights, and was not blessed with a 17st frame. Basically, from the age of 20 I got too small to play rugby and now, although I still play cricket, my eyesight is too bad. I’d like to think I`m as good as Ricky Ponting would be if he had the eyesight of Mr Magoo...
As far as betting is concerned, I try to stick to what I know which is chiefly rugby, cricket and racing, although somehow I am always sucked into betting on football, darts, snooker and er… skiing.

My whole approach is to back big prices that have a better chance than the odds suggest. That may sound obvious, but unlike the legendary punter Harry Findlay, I try to steer clear of bets that require me to stake considerably more than the return, no matter how much of a shoo-in I consider them to be.

Yep, that sometimes means endless pain, like the time I backed Helm Bank at 50-1 in the Britannia Royal Ascot, only to lose by a head, and the instance when I nabbed the 20-1 on Freddie Michalak at the last World Cup to be top points scorer. Why on earth did Bernard Laporte start Gerald Merceron in the 3rd/4th play-off? Maybe he`s as blind as Mr Magoo … he`s certainly as bald as him.