My 2021 Betting P&L

It is with the usual trepidation that I share what follows, fully cognisant that not all receive such things in the spirit with which they are intended. However, regular readers will know how important I believe it is to 'walk the talk', which is why I have begun to share my betting P&L on an annual basis. You can review last year's here, for example, should you so wish.

In the video below you'll find a full rundown of the withdrawals from and deposits to my bank account in 2021. Before you look at that, though, a few important points:

  1. Plenty bet more than me, plenty bet less than me. So what?! This is not about absolute figures, it's about the art of the possible, and how fun and profit (whatever that figure looks like for you - after all, getting paid pennies for having fun is a great outcome) are not mutually exclusive.
  2. I'm not sharing this to show off (obviously) but, rather, to show off Geegeez Gold, which of course I use almost exclusively (along with odds comparison data).
  3. This is not turnover, which was much higher. Funds in accounts generally get played many times before withdrawals are made.
  4. I have LOTS of accounts, plenty of them now useless, and I use all of the ones where I can still bet more than £5! Taking 3/1 when 7/2 is available is just stupid if your bottom line is a key consideration: please don't do it.
  5. I had plenty of small losing accounts in 2021, and one big losing account (Betfair, which I often use to hedge pool bets) as well as a couple of good winning ones; that's a function of how I bet.
  6. Guessing on racing betting turnover is tricky but probably in the region of £80,000. So that's a moderate 3% or so ROI, which is a little shy of what I'd aspire to (around 5%).
  7. These figures are never life-changing, but to get paid a bit for having, like, weeks of fun is outlook-changing. I bought more bits of racehorses in lieu of being able to go away much. 🙂
  8. I have around £1,500 in account balances, and also some healthy looking ante post tickets - but similar was true last year, so those can find their place in the 2022 digest.
  9. It has become clear to me from the small debits on my bank statement that I drink too much posh café coffee... [There are worse vices, right?]

So here goes: a recording of me downloading 2021's bank transactions and removing the non-betting ones to leave just the betting entries.

Matt

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p.s. How did YOU do? Not really interested in 'actual money' figures, but rather did you make a profit? Did you make a smaller loss (which is the single most important step any punter can take)? Or was 2021 tougher for you punting-wise? What worked for you, or not? Leave a comment below and share your experience.

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24 replies
  1. Lee Thrux
    Lee Thrux says:

    *Takes out shares in Well Street Cafe*

    Happy New Year, Matt. Thanks for the amazing website and all the content and sense of community, which in my very humble opinion, sets you apart from the competition.

    Cheers!

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Thanks Lee – that’s a very good idea, I’ll speak to Albertas, the owner, about it! 😀

      Matt

  2. Monsieurbernie
    Monsieurbernie says:

    another profit for you matt , nice!

    i too made a profit for 2021, roi 9.87% which is an improvement on previous three years of around 6%.

    remember posting on last years profit / loss sheet and wondering if it was all worth it, well im still here and studying the horses!! i was having a bad run of form at that time (similiar to now, past 4 years i have never made a profit in December?!) and 6 days later i had my biggest win! its certainly testing when on a losing streak and you lose more often than you win but when you do win its supasses the losses (i play singles and multiples).

    heres wishing everyone a profitable 2022 !

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Great work, Bernie, well done.

      In my view, if one loves it and is making a small (and personally acceptable) loss, that’s great.
      If one is not really fussed for it and is making a small profit, it’s probably not worth it.
      If one loves it and is making a small profit, that’s amazing.
      If one is not really fussed for it and is making a decent profit, that’s a job.
      If one loves it and is making a decent profit, that’s nirvana.

      My point, laboured as usual, is that the level of enjoyment has an extremely direct impact on acceptable outcomes.

      That’s how I see it, anyway!
      Matt

  3. Ian Bunch
    Ian Bunch says:

    I fell off the wall during December and turned a small annual profit into a loss. The worst month in 3 years! New year, new reset and new rules for myself. Tightened up all those parameters and cut out those ‘maybe’s’. Early days but up for Jan

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Hi Ian,

      Hard luck on December. I think it was a pretty tough month for a lot of people – as Bernie had noted earlier.

      Now is a great time to revisit personal rules and mantras, so good work on that.
      Early days for the new year, but it must be nice to draw a line under a tricky December and move forward.

      On and up!
      Matt

  4. jimmybarker58
    jimmybarker58 says:

    Hi Matt, I started keeping records in June and managed ROI of nearly 10%. My own selections and tracker horses did better than the tipsters I follow. Longest losing run was 22, but have to keep the faith and this was followed by a good win. One good win covers a lot of losing bets. I lost money at 9/4 and below, but bizarrely 5/2 and 5/1 were lucky prices. Hollie Doyle was my top jockey. Happy punting for 2022 and thanks for all your hard work on here.

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Brilliant work in keeping records, Jimmy, so you know where you’re good and not so good. Our Bet Tracker tool is an increasingly popular tool for that job.

      And that’s awesome on beating the tipsters you follow: I wish more people had the confidence to trust their own judgement, especially when they have such great info at their fingertips!

      Matt

  5. kenwards
    kenwards says:

    2021 was a losing year for me, my first since 2011, so my worst for some time.
    Ironically having retired in 2020, I had more time to spare than previously-so now wondering if I did too much over-thinking and analysing! Sometimes find too much information can be as bad as not enough.

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      That’s a really interesting point, Sean, and I think you’re probably right.

      It’s just a question of which are the key elements!

      Here’s to 2022 being back in the black.

      Matt

  6. Bubbles180
    Bubbles180 says:

    Hi Matt, great to see you still showing how well Geegeez works, personally had a great year, took time over setting everything up properly using report angles, had less bets than usual just over 700 for the year and made 143.80 pts profit ROI 20.37%.
    Have a great 2022

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Fantastic returns, Bubbles, very well played.

      I definitely think taking that bit of time to set up Report Angles to suit individual betting style/taste is a HUGE leg up on, well, every other racing site in the land.
      It’s something I personally use every day.

      Matt

  7. Denmania
    Denmania says:

    Afternoon Matt,

    Great to see you continuing to be in front as well as plenty members also ahead of the bookies.

    My personal return was an ROI of 11.7%, an improvement on my average of about 8%, but that only tells part of the story. Following great Royal Ascot I hit the heights of 29.2% (greatly helped by having the Amtiyaz/Dubious Affair forecast up in the Copper Horse on the Tuesday, thank you SkyBet for the 10% enhancement of CSFs).

    At this point I obviously got a big for my boots its an easy game I’ll be retiring soon enough. The following 3 months were woeful and included a run of 56 bets without a winner!

    Pleasingly things picked up again.

    The moral of the story is really don’t get carried away and manage your bank!

    I still feel like I haven’t used everything on the site to its full potential, (for example the bet tracker, I’m still using Cleeve which I customised) and I already have it down as the best around so hopefully that might mean more profit!

    Regards

    Ian

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Well played, Ian – and some very sound advice about never getting too up and never getting too down.

      Someone far wiser than me once told me, “after a bad run, expect a good run; after a good run, expect a bad run”.

      He wasn’t wise enough to tell me how to know when the runs were going to end, though!!

      Matt

  8. Benpeo
    Benpeo says:

    Well done Matt that’s a decent profit from something you love to do. December was a nightmare for me I actually stopped on the 18th and started back up again on the 1st. Glad I did as I hit a 95.00 BSP winner to kick us off. If I could only just find one of them a month lol it would be nice 🙂

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Hi Benpeo

      Discipline is something you have more of than me, it seems!

      I didn’t stop and had a pretty shabby December, like most. January has been better so far, in spite of – or maybe because of – the racing being poor.

      Matt

  9. mabla57
    mabla57 says:

    HI Matt,

    Been keeping details records since 2013 and using the site since 2019. My ROI has always fallen between -2 and -10 %. This year is was +0.8%. I am delighted with this for a number of reasons:

    1. As Harry Findlay says, show me a professional that makes more than 10% ROI per year 😉
    2. I went off the boil completely between May and August – too many races and far too many chases!
    3. Looking at the monthly figures, the loss element was probably down to staking around 20% of my bank on multiples, which went particularly cold during the flat season. I will not change this. I feel multiples, modestly staked, are an excellent method of producing added ‘buzz’ to betting, with the faint promise of really significant returns if it all clicked one day (I like many, have had many ‘crossbar’ moments at the big festivals).

    Keep up the good work. I believe IE, daily reports and pace maps have been responsible for my first ever winning year.

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Hi Joe

      This is fantastic to read, thank you very much for sharing. You seem to have a very good handle on what’s working and what’s not, and – maybe even more importantly – where the fun is for you.

      Brilliant job on your first profit, here’s hoping 2022 is your second year of the same!

      Matt

  10. Mike
    Mike says:

    Just done my sums for ROI and it comes in at 23% although that is exaggerated by free bets (as winnings included) and some of my profit is down to football bets too. I use a selective and steady approach plus a monthly stop loss, which has produced annual profits in each of the last 9 years and stopped me chasing when out of form. 2021 has been my second best year since my records began in 2013. For me discipline and value are key and I try to focus on Class 2+ races which does restrict options.

    Good luck in 2022!

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Excellent work, Mike, very well done.

      I like the idea of a monthly stop loss to prevent chasing, though I don’t like the idea of not betting later in the month! I don’t have that kind of discipline unfortunately…

      Matt

  11. Blokeshead
    Blokeshead says:

    I think I can save you a LOT of money, Matt, but it does involve a major relocation…..
    Here in Sweden, the biggest chain of cafés (Espresso House) offers a subscription, whereby I can go into any of their many many cafés and have a cup of whatever I like once every two hours for well under £40 a month. I’m there most days, often twice, very occasionally three times a day.
    I apologise if my advice bankrupts Albertas!
    Oh, and bring your thermals – it’s been down to -40 oop north recently.

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Thanks Stuart. General cost of living probably more than compensates for your value coffee angle, and that’s before factoring in the cold!!

      Matt

  12. robertthomson
    robertthomson says:

    Best advice I ever got punting-wise, from a friend’s wife who worked in the bank, was to remove betting from your day-to-day accounts (was just after the 2008 crash when lenders were looking for reasons not to lend). Having a completely separate account brings proper clarity to what you’re winning and losing. Psychologically, I have found it much easier on this rollercoaster having a tank removed from ‘normal’ money.

    • Matt Bisogno
      Matt Bisogno says:

      Very good advice, Robert, not that I follow it. I can certainly see the merit of that instant clarity.

      Matt

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