Daily25 closing down – joining the darkside

Sadly this will be my last post. After 3 years and 9 months the Daily25 website will be closing down. I started this site to track my progress from absolute novice in the gambling world to what I hoped would one day place me into that rare few percentage of long term winners. I had hoped to make $10,000 a year (hence the daily 25 site name) by following tipsters and that quickly changed to trying to make $100,000 a year. Just yesterday I was once again 1 win shy of hitting that $100,000 mark that has eluded me for the past 3 years. There are still 3 months left for year 4 and I’m sure I will achieve the goal of this site in that time frame.

I feel quite pleased with myself that I not only managed to prove that it was possible to make a profit by creating a portfolio of tipsters, but that I am the only profit and loss blog that has been around for this long. The vast majority start out with great intentions and after their first downturn just disappear. I have been through some very rough patches, but have kept blogging throughout and am quite proud of that.

To the 1,000 readers a day that come to this blog, I want to say thanks. For the first year I think I was lucky to get 1,000 people a month. It means a lot to me that you take the time to read my ramblings each and every week. This site has helped me meet so many great people and I have learned more from you then I have taught on this blog. It is due to this blogs existence that I am actually closing it down.

I have been writing about the abysmal treatment people receive from the Australian bookmakers. They are on par as the worst bookmakers in the world along with their owners (the UK bookies). Their business models see them invite everyone in and then kick out anyone but losing gamblers. It is a model that will see them earn millions very quickly, but will kill them in the long term. A few months ago after blasting another bookie for their pathetic service I received an email from a new entity starting up in Australia who wanted to talk to me about their new venture. Thinking it would be good fodder for another blog rant, I continued discussions over the phone and then in person. Over several months, talks developed into a job offer at a salary I couldn’t say no to.

Now I know how this sounds, and to be honest, I hate myself too. I have joined the dark side. But let me explain a few things which led my thinking. First some great news for me. I will be welcoming my first kid into the world in late September. This is a massive life change for me and I wanted some stability. A bad betting year could see me struggling financially and when it was just me and my girlfriend that was fine, but with a child in the picture, that changes everything. The last few years have been very stressful, and even though I have made close to $300,000 profit in that time, I am still not 100% certain that I can continue to make a profit. This year has really shown me the potential downside to this. The goal was to make $100k from the gambling business each year and now that I have been guaranteed that with 100% certainty then I just could not turn it down. I will continue to follow my portfolio and hope to make a good second income, but now the stress of needing it to perform is gone. That stress also led me to be very negative on this blog and if you are a long term reader you may have noticed this too. Recently there have been a few fights between myself and the tipsters I follow and I have been unhappy with the way I have conducted myself.

At the moment I can not discuss details as the new entity is still yet to open, but if you pay any attention to the Australian bookmaking scene then you could easily guess who I am referring to. This new bookmaker is set to shake up the current shitty Australian scene (I hope) and allow winning punters to get a decent bet on at decent prices. It’s a move back to the traditional principles of bookmaking and one that I feel will see it destroy the current incumbents. My role will be encompassing many areas. The main role will be player advocate. The role is to make sure that everyone is given a fair go. I will also write articles for the blog, and oversee the social media aspects. All these roles fit in with the previous freelance work I have been doing.

It has been one hell of a ride and I hope I have given you a peak into what it takes to make a profit from this very tough game. If not, then at least I hope I have given you a laugh or two. I understand this is the worst thing I could have done but financially for me it is the only thing that makes sense.

Thank you all and good night.

Steve

Edit: this was an April Fools day joke, the full story of how I got you all can be read here