As the site has grown, so has the volume of email I receive, and the amount of time it takes me to reply to everyone.
And although I do love receiving your messages, I often get asked the same questions over and over again.
So, before you drop me a line, please have a quick look through the following list of FAQs to see if your question is already answered.
1. Which betting systems do you personally use?
I assume this question refers not to systems undergoing a trial, but the ones I use every day.
I use a risk-averse portfolio-based approach, such as the one proposed in my free Rollingstone manual. It helps to balance risk and reward, and deal with losing runs effectively.
2. I can't be bothered reading all this, please just tell me what is the quickest way of making X pounds or getting a deposit for my new house/car/whatever?
There is a folder on the site for systems which 'Passed' so that's the best place to look.
Of course, if you don’t want to rely on my opinion then readers of Lay Back & Get Rich vote for their favourite systems and services every year. Click here for details of all the Betting Oscar winners.
3. Can I send you money so you can invest it on my behalf?
No, absolutely not. I have been asked this a surprising number of times!
If anybody suggests to you that they operate their services in this way, please walk away very quickly. In the UK it’s a heavily regulated area in the financial services industry and I don’t think that any sort of betting service will ever be able to do such a thing legally.
4. Can you tell me what you think of new system X before I buy it?
I'm constantly amazed at the number of different systems there are in the market. But if I haven’t already trialled it on my site, the chances are I know nothing about it. However, do feel free to ask me to try and get a hold of a copy for review, especially if you are prepared to be the triallist yourself. In which case I will write to the system provider and request a live trial.
Obviously it's up to them as to whether they agree. Some are (perhaps understandably) nervous about the idea. After all, if something is complete rubbish then I won't hold back from saying so!
5. Do you get your systems for free, or do you pay for them?
I get them for free. I just ask the system providers if they would like to have a trial of their product on my site, and if so, they send it over.
6. Please will you test my system for me?
I'm happy to have a look at it, and if I think it's got potential value for my readers, then yes, I will.
Obviously, I can't promise to test absolutely everything that everybody sends me. The most important thing for me is to identify whether it's likely to help people who use my site. But yes, feel free to send it over and I’ll give you my honest first impressions. Naturally, anything you send me will be handled in complete confidence.
7. How can you be impartial when you use affiliate links?
The site openly uses affiliate links, however this doesn’t mean my opinion is ever up for sale.
I see the (modest) affiliate returns as a small reward for helping a customer make a good decision. I believe it's unrealistic to write and run a site of this size without some form of financial support, as quite simply Lay Back & Get Rich now dominates my daily life.
The alternative would be to fund the site via advertising, which would make for an extremely cluttered read, with many ads on pages. I find such sites distracting and hard to follow.
Ultimately, the website is an enthusiast site, and I trust this shines through in the quality and enthusiasm of the writing.
8. Why haven't you approved my comment?
All comments have to be approved manually by me before they appear on the site.
All the usual principles of respect and decent behaviour apply, so if I feel somebody is being rude and offensive in any way, I will bar them. I reserve the right to edit/delete any comments which I deem inappropriate. If you simply want to promote some product or other, expect to be barred from commenting.
9. Why has my bookmaker limited my account?
The most obvious reason is you are making too much money too quickly. However there can be a lot more to it than this. For instance, I have several readers who have had accounts limited whilst actually losing money.
Please see this article for advice and guidance.
10. I've found this amazing arb paying 25%! Should I bet on it?
Probably not.
11. What is SkewTrader Pro?
SkewTrader Pro is a system that allows you to trade the horse racing markets before the off.
It contains a range of strategies, all based on a single principle that exploits a loophole in the betting markets. Some of the strategies are no riskier than standard arbitrage, whereas others take a few more chances but also provide the scope for greater reward.
12. What does BOG mean?
BOG stands for Best Odds Guaranteed. It’s a valuable feature of a lot of bookmaker sites whereby you are guaranteed the longer of the odds you took at bet placement time and the industry starting price.
It gives you insurance against drifting odds, by ensuring you don’t get penalised for taking an early price. The bookmakers offer it to encourage you to commit to a bet now instead of putting the moment off and maybe never betting at all!
13. What does ROI mean?
How best to define ROI is an old argument that flares up every few months on my site! It stands for 'Return on Investment'.
ROI, in betting circles, is usually defined as the amount returned expressed as a percentage of the total amount of cash risked which can make trading and laying systems appear far less profitable than backing.
However, quite a few of my readers look at ROI in a different way. For instance, regular reviewers Judith and Lee define it as total bank growth expressed as a percentage of the original betting bank.
The former definition is the ‘betting industry standard’; the latter what you might call the ‘investment fund view’. I’d be very surprised if anyone investing a lump sum in an Invesco Perpetual trust fund saw ROI in any way different from Judith and Lee.
I tend to sit on the fence with this one. The first definition (the betting industry standard) seems most helpful when comparing “per bet”; the latter more useful when comparing per strategy (as inevitably you are prepared to use bigger stakes when using trading and high strike rate systems; meaning that overall bank growth becomes a better yardstick).
Both definitions miss the time value of money (I have often seen ROI’s of betting systems compared with building society accounts without reference to the annual dimension of the latter’s returns), and also strike rate (which is as important in my view).
14. My question isn’t covered by your FAQ list!
Then, please send me a message and I'll do my best to send you a reply soon.