Internet gambling

hmm

julia xx

Never done any of your online casino type stuff, but have spent too many hours playing Tetris on Flipside in the hope of winning 50 quid or whatever. Actually I did get 6 quid off an online lottery thing, and I've won a couple of web competitions back when not many other people entered (nothing particularly interesting though), and there was a stock exchange simulation thing which gave you an account with some free money in if you filled in a big long questionnaire thing, so I did that and withdrew my $20 or whatever right away. Erm, I'm sounding addicted now, right? Oh dear. But I've never done anything where I have to spend real money to enter and I don't know about actual online casinos, all I know is that their popup ads piss me off.

Throiugh some participation in online financial market research, I was asked if I'd volunteer as a tester for a new trading platform. To do so, I get to spend £1000 on stocks and funds, with no trading charges. And while I have to give the £1000 back, I am allowed to keep any profit I make... I'm currently long in Cable and Wireless - and tips from insider traders?

Internet gambling is GRATE. I went to EasyEverything once and this online BETTING ON DOGS site were giving you a tenner if you signed up. It cost £2 to sign up, then they hand you a grubby tenner in yer mits. Eight quid!!! I promptly headed to The Cheese to spend it on BEER, you'll be glad to know.

Shoritng is tricker to organise, though - one of the best ways to do it is by spread betting, which I think we've talked about. If I were to go short at the moment, I would short Marks and Spencer - looking wobbly after its recent (unjustified, IMHO) rise.

That is the end of lesson 1 :-)

(p.s. if that link doesn't work, try here and follow the process this way)

Should I read ft.com before I buy anything?

As for research, the first thing I'd do is work out which sectors/companies you're interested in or know a bit about, and then start looking for info on them. The boards are a useful tool to have, but you have to take everything said on them with a pinch of salt. Most sites also connect to news on companies - iii does free for FTSE 100 companies, which are probably the best ones to start with.

If you find a decent bulletin board, they should bring you, among the ramping (talking up of a share you own in the hope you'll persuade people to buy and therefore up the price) and chat, most of the events currently happening with regards to the companies you've chosen. Often, financial websites will have editorial sections, and will often focus on sectors and companies as potential investments, or to discuss macreconomic (i.e. unemployment figures, interest rates, recession etc.) climates.

It's also finding articles if you can about the psychology of investing. There are a whole load of traps beginners find themselves in - buying when the price has gone up only to see it fall; buying as the price is falling in the mistaken belief it can't go any lower; listening to the comments of people with their own selfish interests in what they're saying (basically, this is all brokers do - when they announce that "Debenhams is a STRONG BUY", odds are their clients own a large number of shares in Debenhams - or even that Debenhams are their own client. Brokers' forecasts do often push the price up, though - which is why they should be ignored, as you're very unlikely to get in before the rise takes place).

One thing that's interesting to do is get a list of the FTSE 1090 and stick a pin in half a dozen times and keep a portfolio of these random stocks. Then you'll be able to compare yourself to the norm and see how good your stock-picking skills really are :-)

That's lesson 2 out of the way, then.

Banks are having a bit of a tough time at present - the collapse of Enron has lost many banks money, not least Barclays, whose share price has been heavily hit. As the recession clears, banks may well be a strong place to invest, but for the short term, I wonder.

Still, as you're not using real money yet, they're as good a place as any to start. I bet you any money your portfolio beats mine over a given period. When you've chosen your stocks let me know what they are, and we can have a RACE to profit and glory.

I deposited £5.40 in my [one of the big bookies] betting account the other day to put on my usual crap assortment of 2 bob football accs. My credit showed up as £55.40 so I thought I must have accidentally typed an extra 5 and quickly withdrew the extra 50 back into my account. Then strangely when I checked my online banking statement a couple of days later there was only a record of 5.40 ever going out and this magic 50 must have been erroneously credited to me. It was a nice little gift horse, although completely unexpected.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EH-dII_X0AMg9Es?format=jpg&name=small
just want to talk to my drug dealer about responsible crack smoking

just glad that my phone doesn't give me instant access to crack 24/7 tbh

i've gone through all sorts of different types of gambling addiction - most of them picked up when i used to work in the bookies. I'm well on top of it now (lol) but seriously just do low stakes football bets and irish lottery/daily millions bets these days. But dread to think the even worse messes I could have got into at the height of my addiction these days. And I say this as someone who once had two winning 1 to 2 grands+ bets (playing with my bosses money) that only left me a few hundred quid down!