The Winning Ticket Review

The Winning Ticket is a service which aims to bring together tips from a number of top tipsters from across the UK. The service is managed by Chairman, Simon.

Introduction to The Winning Ticket

I review a lot of services which end up starting with some variation of “This service is not unlike the vast majority of other services in the same genre”. This is because most tipsters know how to offer the best value whilst maximising profit for themselves. The Winning Ticket however is almost completely different to most tipster services that I have looked at before.

I am always keen to look at new things as this is an industry that is constantly evolving and changing. All it takes is for one person to do something different and turn it into a success and the whole industry changes (think about how the internet changed the old phone line based tipster services).

The set up that Simon has put in place is a very unique affair that really seems to focus on the strengths of his team rather than an individual, an approach that may prove to be the next logical step. With this in mind, let’s take a look at The Winning Ticket.

What Does The Winning Ticket Offer?

Given how unique The Winning Ticket is compared to the rest of the market I am at a little bit of a loss as to where to start. First of all, this is a highly selective tipster service. This means that those of you who are looking for tips every day, you will be disappointed. In actuality, if I want to be completely open about The Winning Ticket, it is actually 4 different tipsters at work here.

These are The Bag Man, The Head Lad, The Paddock Man and finally The Travelling Man. Each brings something different to the table with Simon essentially acting to send out selections to a wider audience. The Winning Ticket is however essentially broken up into “Long Tips” and “Short Tips”.

The Long Tips side of The Winning Ticket are made up of The Bag Man and The Head Lad. These prefer to send out tips to subscribers on certain days, namely Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This is a much more routine option compared to the Short Tips. These are provided as and when they are available.

For example, on the day of writing this, The Paddock Man has a tip available whilst The Travelling Man does not. By the same token, the roles were reversed the day before.

In terms of the bets, from what I have seen all of the tipsters that work under the The Winning Ticket banner with Simon provide straight win bets. These cover a variety of odds however the focus is supposedly on providing the best possible quality. Generally speaking, if you were to follow all 4 tipsters, you would rarely see more than 12 tips over the course of a week making The Winning Ticket a generally low volume option.

There is unfortunately little in the way of any staking plan. Truth be told, The Winning Ticket appears to be aimed more at those who already have some understanding of horse racing and know what they want to bet etc.

This is one area where I feel there is some room for improvement. It is worth mentioning whilst on the subject of numbers that there is no claimed strike rate for any aspect of The Winning Ticket either, although Simon does say that the service is not there to give you 100% winners which suggests a realistic view of this.

How Does The Winning Ticket Work?

Rather than talking about how The Winning Ticket as a whole works, I want to talk about how the different tipsters operate.

First, I want to look at The Bag Man. Simon says that this was the first tipster that he enrolled into The Winning Ticket. He is referred to as “One of the top form students in the UK” and can supposedly be found “at any track north of Uttoxeter 4-5 days a week. He is also supposedly active on spreads and exchanges.

Next is The Head Lad, the other “Long” tipster. They were supposedly a high ranking stable lad who has now “gone rogue” as a full time punter. Simon claims that this tipster made enough money to quit and how has a wealth of contacts in major yards. Particularly Newmarket and Lambourn where he worked.

The Paddock Man is the first of the “Short” tipsters. He is supposedly on the payroll of “several leading gamblers and exchange players”. He supposedly spends his time in the paddock at major tracks where he is trying to glean inside information.

Finally, there is The Travelling Man. The tipster who provides the tips for this aspect of The Winning Ticket supposedly sold his business to a major competitor in order to travel the country attending races. He now makes big money thanks to contacts on his payroll ranging “from bookmakers to owners and trainers”.

What is the Initial Investment?

There are two pricing structures in place for The Winning Ticket and they are very simple. For the Long tipsters, you pay £15 in order to receive their best selections for the Thursday, Friday and Saturday. With the Short Tipsters, you pay a flat fee of £7 in order to receive their selections on the days when they have them available.

What is the Rate of Return?

The Winning Ticket is a new service and there are unfortunately no results provided. There are a few indicators however that there is genuine expectation of profitable betting in the future. For example, Simon has said in an email that if you don’t receive a winner from the Long Tipsters, then you will receive the next week free of charge.

Conclusion on The Winning Ticket?

It is difficult to know how to look at The Winning Ticket in many respects. It is very different to most of the current tipster market and I don’t consider this to be a bad thing. This does however make knowing how and where to rank it compared to the wider market a much more difficult task than normal. That having been said, there are a few different things which I believe can be taken into consideration.

I am usually wary of any service that claims to have inside information.

It is exactly the kind of unverified claim anybody can spout in order to add credence to their selections. In the case of The Winning Ticket however, I am not particularly inclined to doubt this. Simon has been saying over the time he has been building the service up that the focus was always to be on inside information.

I also think the fact that there are multiple tipsters involved adds some weight to this as opposed to ridiculous claims made by one man.

There is definitely a question of value for money to be raised and this is probably where I think the biggest problem with The Winning Ticket is. It is an expensive service in many regards although the fact that you only pay when you are betting goes some way to mitigating this. Where it becomes really problematic however is in so much as it is difficult to project income potential etc.

Really, I think that The Winning Ticket is the beginning of something that has a lot of potential to be good. Whilst I can appreciate that Simon is breaking away from a more typical structure, there is still a lot that can be taken away. I can appreciate the need to protect the identity of his tipsters, but the service is crying out for proofing of some sort.

The fact of the matter is that I am loathe to pay £7 for one tip when I have no idea what to expect. For my money though, if Simon makes the right changes this could be a real winner.