The Paradise Interview: Zonker

Punters Paradise

Well Zonker, thanks for doing the interview. I’d like to take you back to when you started betting first. What age were you and what sort of things were you betting on?

Zonker

I was about 13 or so and I used to bet on the English and Scottish leagues.

Punters Paradise

What are your memories of that time?

Zonker

It was difficult clearly – no internet, 10% betting tax, minimum 5 folds on football if you included a home win - so the wins were quite irregular.

Punters Paradise

Where did you bet, and how? You were only 13,

Zonker

I got my mum to place bets at the local Corals!

Punters Paradise

What is the first bet you specifically remember?

Zonker

I remember the first big win; that pretty much got my hooked as it were. Rangers won 1-0 with a last minute goal from Ian Durrant. 99% sure the opposition were Kilmarnock (this was probably around 1993 or 1994). It won me about £107 from a £1 stake – a 6-fold I believe.

Punters Paradise

Very nice! What did you do with the money?

Zonker

You can probably guess! I bet it all in midweek 3 days later. I think I placed a couple of 10-folds or so, on Scottish league cup games – I wasn't fully aware of the pitfalls of accumulators then. I believe that Falkirk drew with Berwick at home which cost me a big payout. I lost £100, but my first hard lesson learned.

Punters Paradise

Presumably your folks were somewhat into betting if you mum was prepared to go to Corals for you?

Zonker

Well actually no, my parents were not really into betting much at all. She probably should've refused to put the bets on for me, but I was quite smart I suppose, so she was willing.

Punters Paradise

So where did the interest in betting come from?

Zonker

Well I was always interested in football, and at that time interested in making extra cash too. I was quite into Mathematics, so was quite interested in odds and so on.

Punters Paradise

Can you remember how you went about making your selections?

Zonker

Well nothing like how I do now, that's for sure.Basically, I looked at team news and league tables in the newspaper, got a coupon from betting shop, and took the plunge - certainly not a lengthy process.

Punters Paradise

Was it as case of picking out the teams likeliest to win (from your reading of the papers etc) and then tick them on the coupon? Or was there anything else that guided you to match A rather than match B etc?

Zonker

It was pretty much as you describe. Obviously you had to do 5-folds, so it was mostly short-priced favourites. I knew some stuff about the top couple of divisions, but looking back, betting on lower leagues then involved a lot of guess work on my part.

Punters Paradise

You say that losing that £107 was your first lesson. At what stage did you feel you'd 'graduated' into a 'knowledgeable' bettor (even if you look back now and know you weren't)? When did you feel “I know what I'm doing here?”

Zonker

I probably thought I knew what I was doing right from the start - always been pretty confident. A friend from school was quite into betting, so it was competitive between us to see who could win most often, but looking back, until I started betting online on singles and such, I still did not make consistent profit.

Punters Paradise

When would that have been?

Zonker

I think I opened my first internet account in 1999 or 2000 - with Coral and William Hill. With starting university, I had a debit and credit card for the first time, so could bet more easily, and bet higher sums. However, I probably did go rushing into it a little, and bet more than I could afford. At one point, I had gambled all of my spare cash, and placed my last £500 on a bet. If it lost, I was broke and I don't know what I would've done.

Punters Paradise

Would you say 'experienced, knowledgeable, but undisciplined' would be a fair summing up of that stage?

Zonker

Certainly yes, but up until you could bet singles on the internet, it was hard to win especially with a 10%, then 9% betting tax.

Punters Paradise

I’m sure you still remember that game .

Zonker

. I do. It was on Oct 18th 2000 (just checked to be sure). I had a double on Man Utd and Crystal Palace. Man Utd were drawing 1-1 with PSV with 10 minutes left, when Scholes scored. Yorke also scored and they won 3-1, but I was fully intending to stop betting altogether if that lost. It seems daft now.

Punters Paradise

At what stage did the idea cross your mind that you might be able to do this professionally?

Zonker

Well I recovered that season, and I think ended about £5000 up - that was my 2nd year at university, and in the remaining 2 years, I managed to make better profits. Most of my friends got involved in gambling as well when they saw I was winning. At this point, a lot of people were depending on my advice to win an extra few quid to keep them going, so I suppose that the idea was taking shape at that stage.

Punters Paradise

And when did you make the decision to go pro?

Zonker

When I graduated, I had a job offer to go into investment banking, so I had to decide what to do. After a lot of thought, I decided I preferred the lifestyle of doing what I wanted, and betting, rather than working 60 hours a week in London.

Punters Paradise

Did you seek much advice to help you in making that decision?

Zonker

No one really, I did speak to my girlfriend a little, but no one influenced my decision much. I was confident that I could make enough money gambling to live quite well.

Punters Paradise

What factors were you considering in making the decision?

Zonker

Well the banking job involved 60+ hours per week at work. This would've much reduced my freedom in a lot of areas. But the main factor was my confidence in being able to make a profit after 3 or so years of doing well.

Punters Paradise

What about stability of income, 'stigma' etc?

Zonker

Well at this point, I had enough saved up to ride out any bad runs and afford to live at the same time, so the stability wasn’t a major issue.

I must admit however, even now, my mother will not tell people what I am doing. They probably think I am some layabout, but that's their problem - as far as I'm concerned, investment banking, and betting on sports are a lot more similar than people think.

Punters Paradise

Agreed. Did you find that attitude amongst any of your peers?

Zonker

Not at all, most people I know regard it as excellent to be able to pretty much make money for doing nothing. .Some people I know find it quite amusing that I do what I do, but I'm sure most would also like to be able to do the same

Punters Paradise

Ok, so now you've just hit the end of college - into the big bad world and you've just made a decision to go pro, I'd like to take stock a little – benchmark where you were.

Zonker

Sure

Punters Paradise

You were betting fairly consistently (even if not always turning a consistent profit with taxes, multiple bet regulations etc) for 5 or so years and then you went on to college. Did you pick something that was relevant/useful to your betting (even sub-consciously)? I’m guessing the answer is yes, if investment banking was a career option.

Zonker

I did a primary degree, followed by a Masters in pure and applied maths. I also some took some stats modules; I deliberately chose my modules to be as varied as possible.

Punters Paradise

How were you balancing your study and betting commitments – you were already pretty successful at this stage?

Zonker

During my final year at university, probably spent about 15-20 hours per week on betting research. I still went to all my lectures and so on, but probably didn't put in the effort to my degree that I should've done.

During gaps in lectures, I would browse the internet, keep up to date with stuff read news and generally look at odds etc. Probably an hour or two each day. Then on Friday afternoon and evening, would spend up to 8 hours or more, looking through the fixtures in detail.

Punters Paradise

So you are in reality half way to a full time job on the betting.

Zonker

Exactly!

Punters Paradise