5 Minute Secret is a horse racing tipster service which is being offered by one Mel Gee in conjunction with Market Breakers (or Agora Lifestyles as they used to be known). It claims to have produced some very strong profits which can be repeated “again and again”.
Introduction to 5 Minute Secret
There are certain companies that when I see a product from, I am always keen to have a look at. Let’s not mince words. There are some huge publishing companies out there offering home income solutions and betting systems, and you would hope that bigger is better. It stands to reason, surely, that the cream rises to the top.
So, when I saw an email from such a publishing house that talked about a “healthy second income of £24,000 or more”, you can bet your bet your bottom dollar that I was interested. And I was taken to 5 Minute Secret. And the headlines there are, not surprisingly, very much in line with this. In fact, we are told that this “Ex-furniture salesman” (Mel Gee) broke a three decade losing streak with his bets.
All of which ultimately sounds very impressive. Especially if it is available at the right price, which it seems to be. However, this is ultimately a Market Breakers product, and the unfortunate truth of the matter is that sometimes, things aren’t what they seem there. So with at least some optimism that this might be good, let’s have a look at 5 Minute Secret, and if Mel Gee is the real deal.
What Does 5 Minute Secret Offer?
For some people, following a horse racing tipster can all be a little bit much. There is a lot of racing that goes on during the day and some of the tipsters out there will recommend you more than 10 horses at a time. It isn’t necessarily that following tips is hard, but getting the right odds, keeping track of your bets long term, etc. Well, it can all be a bit much. Especially around a 9-5.
So, the fact that a company like Market Breakers are partnering with Mel Gee to offer a tipster service that is based around weekend racing and festivals is actually a very interesting proposition for a number of reasons. First of all, this is very much a manageable service. There isn’t going to be any real overload here. But secondly, this opens up 5 Minute Secret for the more casual punter.
Now don’t get me wrong. It isn’t necessarily that what Mel Gee is doing is anything revolutionary. And Market Breakers aren’t offering some brand new way of managing a service. In fact, logistically, this is a very typical affair. By which I mean, selections are issued each Saturday morning, directly via email. And they will apparently take you just 5 minutes to place (hence the name).
With that said, that doesn’t mean that you will receive tips every Saturday either. In fact, we are told in the sales material that Mel Gee only really issues selections when he is “100% confident that we’re on for a winner”. He even states that this isn’t “the kind of gig where we bet for the sake of it”. Something that I will always welcome.
In terms of the bets, well, this is a horse racing tipster service. This means that (perhaps not surprisingly) you will mostly be backing a horse to win. Typically speaking you will only get a few bets sent out at most on a Saturday, however during festival seasons it would appear that you can expect to see a somewhat higher volume.
There is a little bit of variance in terms of the odds that you will be betting on, but ultimately, in many respects 5 Minute Secret is pretty unremarkable looking. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing though. The truth of the matter is that some of the tipster services out there go wild trying to justify their existence, and that can ultimately impact the bottom line.
So far, I have painted a picture of a no nonsense horse racing tipster service. Mel Gee and Market Breakers seem to be very much in the same camp as me when it comes to a lot of elements of betting in fact. However, this isn’t where things end.
First of all, I want to talk about the staking plan. Or perhaps more specifically, the lack thereof. I haven’t seen anything surrounding 5 Minute Secret that gives you an idea of how much money you should actually be betting in order to achieve the results. This is problematic for a number of reasons that I will come to later.
Tying into this, there isn’t really any proofing provided by Mel Gee or Market Breakers that you can look at to really get an idea of what to expect here. As well as making it very difficult to understand where these profit claims come from, it also makes it very difficult to see what kind of results you can expect moving forward.
This doesn’t just mean in terms of the profit and loss either. Things like a strike rate are very important with selective betting. After all, it stands to reason that if you are getting just 3 or 4 bets per month, you need them to win often in order to be worthwhile.
Unfortunately, there are no claims made in terms of this strike rate. And, as already mentioned, the lack of proofing means that there is no way of calculating such a figure. All of this adds to some very large problems with 5 Minute Secret in my opinion.
How Does 5 Minute Secret Work?
Whilst it is disappointing that there is a very distinctive lack of information made available about what kinds of things you can expect from 5 Minute Secret, we are at least told how it all works. Kind of. You see, there are two driving principles that Mel Gee says that he uses when he is looking for selections.
First of all, the core principle behind 5 Minute Secret is that it is scientific. Which I will admit sounds like a very impressive statement. After all, the scientific method is all about rigorous testing and finding demonstrable and provable answers to questions (this latter part dripping with irony given the lack of proofing). So, what elements of the selection process are “scientific”?
Well… This isn’t really talked about. Market Breakers and Mel Gee talk about “30 years of dedicated study of the races”, “Burning the candle at both ends, night after night”, and the only vaguely scientific statement “pouring over every race statistic imaginable”. Which ultimately, we are told, culminated in a “full-proof way to consistently beat the bookies”. What is this incredible “scientific rule”?
We are told that history repeats itself. This is very important, but don’t expect to learn how this is important. Or in fact, what elements of history we are referring to. Just take Mel Gee’s word that it will help you to “rig the racetrack”. Frankly, this is a very disappointing claim with no context or explanation. What it does do though, is sound good to those who might not be in the know.
Effectively, what I am getting at here is that despite all of the incredible sounding advertising, there isn’t really any explanation as to what the selection process involves. Instead, there are a lot of buz words that sound good. Which is a shame because the selective approach Mel Gee has with 5 Minute Secret suggests that there are some genuinely good ideas happening behind the scenes that I’d rather hear about.
What is the Initial Investment?
If you want to subscribe to 5 Minute Secret, there is just one option available. This is a one time payment of £97 (inclusive of VAT) which, to be fair, does at least buy you selections for a 12 month period. This works out at some £8 a month which is not a lot of money at all. It is however a pretty substantial outlay to pay out in one go.
It is worth noting that there is a full 30 day money back guarantee in place which I don’t believe you should have many problems claiming from Market Breakers. More interestingly though is the fact that Mel Gee says that if 5 Minute Secret hasn’t generated a profit for you by the end of they 365 days, you will also receive a refund (although this is likely to be highly conditional).
What is the Rate of Return?
I opened this by talking about that number of £24,000 per year and that is taken straight from the sales material. It is a hugely impressive number and is more than some people will make working an actual job. But the main claim that is pushed throughout 5 Minute Secret (and the one that I want to focus on) is making £500 from a day of betting.
Now as mentioned, there is no real context for this. Is it a 50/1 outsider coming in on a £10 bet? Is it a favourite at evens that has been backed to £500? Or anything in between. The fact is that Mel Gee and Market Breakers provide no real context for these results (which is another reason the lack of proofing is frustrating).
This means that even when Mel Gee provides more specific examples such as £1,188 of two winners in a day, or £890 off another two winners, or even a much more modest looking £210 winner. None of it really means anything. It is just abstract numbers really.
Conclusion for 5 Minute Secret
Look, I can certainly see the appeal behind 5 Minute Secret. Mel Gee and Market Breakers do a very good job of making this sound like a dead cert. The testimonials, the repeated claims of making £500 in 5 minutes, the extra 24 grand a year. It is repeated so often that even a casual read through the sales material keeps driving home those results until it’s very hard not to think about them.
And honestly, given the involvement of what used to be Agora Lifestyles, I can’t say that I am entirely surprised. They have a very specific approach to marketing and as a marketing exercise, it is incredibly successful. However, a very good sales pitch does not necessarily a good product make.
Now I will be talking a little bit more about the marketing and how it impacts my final thoughts on 5 Minute Secret. But I want to take a minute to talk about some of the elements that are actually quite positive. First of all, what Mel Gee is asking for the product isn’t a lot of money. I’m not sure I’m keen on having to pay it all out before receiving anything, but there is also a money back guarantee that covers this.
With this in mind, there is a strong potential for value. Especially to the more casual punter who’s perhaps just looking for a bit of an edge when they sit back and enjoy Saturday racing or bigger festivals. I’ve looked at other products with a similar concept to this before and I still very much like the concept.
However, there are a lot of reservations that I have as well. The biggest one for me surrounds how much you can actually expect to make through 5 Minute Secret. All of the results that Market Breakers are in pounds and pence, with no context for what that means. I know I’ve talked about this already, but it makes it very difficult to make an informed decision about whether or not this is for you.
Adding to that struggle is the complete lack of tangible information from Mel Gee about his selection process. I’m really not looking for a detailed step by step breakdown here. But what I would like is a seemingly very erroneous use of the term “scientific” and a vague notion that you can pick winners because “history repeats itself”.
I guess the bottom line here is that if somebody is attempting to obfuscate so much information, you really have to stop and ask why this is. By and large, I can tell you that it isn’t because things are going swimmingly.
With all of this in mind, I can say that I am quite comfortable recommending you give 5 Minute Secret a miss. There is clearly some potential for… Well, something, here. But as it currently stands, I think you are being asked by Mel Gee and Market Breakers to take a £97 leap of faith. For some people, that might be worthwhile. But for my money, I’d rather spend a bit more and get something that actively tries to show me what it can do, rather than telling me.
