Professional or Paid Tipster Services - Are they worth it?

Is it worth paying for Horse Racing Tips?

Well, this is an emotive subject and there are several ways of approaching this. 

I will begin by justifying my views on the subject by mentioning the fact that I myself, did run a tipster service a few years ago 

I charged for horseracing tips on a monthly basis. 

I had some very happy members, as I found plenty of winners and provided a profit over the 2 year period it ran.

I also had some very unhappy members, the reasons for which I will cover in the article. 

If you are new to betting please check out all the OLBG betting school articles, here you can learn about all aspects of the betting world for free!!

Why pay for horse racing tips?

The answer is, there are broadly two types of people that will do so. 

People looking for get rich quick schemes, If you are one of these don't bother, No seriously DON'T!

Despite flashy ads, in-depth explanations of how the money will just roll in, it very very rarely does. 

Gambling should be viewed as a long term investment. 

And in fact, gambling is precisely the thing that should be avoided. 

Gambling is exciting and is a rush, betting for profit is not. 

Betting for profit is a long drawn out boring process. Although the profit is nice if you know how to look after it.

People who understand a measured approach to betting on horse racing.

Probably covered by the latter of the last paragraph. 

They will be mathematically astute and understand the probability of their plan, will be disciplined in the extreme and able to make definite decisions along the way. 

People who adept at making definite decisions in life, whether emotional or financial are those that are successful in whatever they do, and that encompasses betting!

What sort of paying tipster services are there?

• Cheap services
• Expensive services
• Celebrity Tipster Services

So in this minefield, where do we turn?

Tipster Subscription Lengths

First and foremost, even though I ran a service and made a good amount of money from doing so.

I would not advocate signing up to a paid tipster service, unless you are fully aware of what you are getting into.

Consider the Subscription Fee

I had one member who contacted me after a month when I had made around 35 points profit to single point stakes (This was always my suggested staking plan).

How much does a "Good" Professional Tipster Charge for Tips?

This is really subjective! I would say it could be anything. 

Let's start and state that Tips for free on OLBG cost absolutely that. Nothing, Nada, Gratis, they are free! 

There are plenty of fine tipsters on this site who offer their views for free and return good profits on a consistent basis. So there is the first base.

To go to the other end of the scale, I have seen Tipping services that cost in excess of £1000 per month. - "for the more discerning client," they may claim. 

For the bloody idiot with far too much money at their disposal, I would counter-claim!

I am not denigrating high charging tipping services, but paying a high price does always ensure that you will "get what you pay for".

It is human nature often to keep this cliché in mind, but unscrupulous tipping services, and I might dangerously suggest, scam services, will price themselves high to instill false confidence that sending huge amounts of money must mean they are worthy.

Finally, there are the Celebrity Tipsters. The horse racing names, that appear in trade newspapers and on television. 

Again there are no guarantees that just because these people work on a daily basis within the industry that they will be any better than someone else.

Indeed, some professional tipsters work, within the industry simply on the basis that they are tipsters, this shouldn't be forgotten. 

But the lure of a racing celebrity is a strong one. 

Although remember, that they are not ONLY racing Tipsters and certainly not Professional Gamblers. 

Their primary income will be within the world of Journalism, media, or presenting. 

Most tipping services off the back of this will be in conjunction with a media outlet who will pay for the endorsement, and perhaps the tips. 

In some cases, the names that are aligned with these services have no input into the tips themselves; their only input is creating the invoice for the endorsement and cashing the subsequent cheque thank you very much!

In summary, there is no answer to "How Much Should I Pay for Horse Racing Tips?" I would pretty much guarantee, however, that if they are for sale at 99p on eBay, you will not be looking at a long term service, nor a profitable one.

Finally - Professional Gamblers are not going to sell tips on a service, they don't need to.  

Professional Gamblers are not Tipsters.

A Professional Tipster Confession

Why did you, Man O Bong, charge for tips, if you were making a profit?

Firstly, I didn't know if I was going to make a profit. That's the problem, I was confident that I could and certainly aimed at doing so, but there were no guarantees.

When you charge for tips you live and die by the sword! I also knew that I was not going to make sufficient profit to be able to be a professional gambler. For one I didn't have the resources to do so; two, I don't bet with huge stakes and three, I like security in my life.

What charging for tips did for me however was a mathematical matter. ( I like maths! Can you tell?) - 

Each month, I would receive subscription payments from members for the tips I sent out. 

What did I do with the money? That's easy!, It went into my betting bank each month.

In effect, my liabilities were reduced by the fact that my members were propping up my betting bank account, so that in months when I and the members were winning, my return on investment was much higher, as my personal investment was minimal.

If anything at all; and on losing months, effectively my members were paying for my losses.

Now there is a slice of honesty for you - and perhaps one of the reasons I couldn't continue with selling tips.

I was perhaps too honest, and certainly too human.

 Losing streaks hurt me. 

The pressure was immense, as I knew I had members not only paying me good hard-earned cash for my tips but also were losing additional money on my advice.

I've done one finally but here is another, NEVER PAY FOR SYSTEMS! - 

Systems rarely last a long time and the more money being thrown at this type of bet over a long period of time will see the value in those selections go down at a rapid rate. 

Systems, in 99% of cases will work only for a short period of time and will need tweaking and changing throughout their life. 

If someone is trying to sell a system, they don't understand the system is my view.

Professional Tipster Free Trials

Try as many as you can.

A bit like getting as many free match bets as you can from Online Bookmakers.

It will cost nothing but a profit of loss on the tips provided and there is no commitment going forward. 

You can use each service for a month at a time, (A month is a minimum that should be offered on a free trial), then decide which service is for you. 

Don't forget it is not all about the tips. It is what else you get. yes, winning tips are important, but how does the tipster send the tips to you. 

What level of explanation to the selection process do you receive how do they react to winning and losing runs? 

Consider everything that is included in the free trial package, it will get you a feel of what more is to come.

Remember though, there is no guarantee of profit on a trial, you may still lose the money you invest in the bets. 

Or you could just paper trade them to align them with the remainder of the service and again get a feel for what is provided.

I actually got around the free trial thing with my service as I offered it as a retrospective. in as much as the potential member would pay for the trial and would then have it deducted from a 3 month or longer subscription should they wish to continue. (Marketing genius huh?). 

Personally I would not recommend this, neither would I recommend signing up for any longer than a month at a time. 

There may be "discounts" available for longer periods or even annual subscriptions but those prices will be what the tipster is budgeting for; monthly fees are a bonus for them but it also gives you the option of getting out fo a bad one. 

Consider the higher monthly price and use that in your staking, bank, and betting projections for profit and loss.

Professional and Paid for Tipster Summary

• Suggested Stakes per point guide
• Suggested bank size to account for losing runs
• Never Buy Systems
• Professional Gamblers will not sell their tips
• Take any Free Trials on Offer
• Don't fall for long term subscription discounts

Or perhaps, stay away altogether and check out the very good tipsters here on OLBG.

They come with a guarantee - THEY'LL ALWAYS BE FREE ON OLBG!