Not sure which 'maths boffin' you are referring to davez, but the following is an extract from Dr. Z’s Beat the Racetrack By William T. Ziemba & Donald B. Hausch, both highly qualified mathematicians among other qualifications that these two men have and neither is a gambler as such.

"The absolute best money management system is the Kelly criterion. It has quite a few properties that the authors favor. It determines bet size solely on the basis of the goodness of each bet. It tells you to bet more when you are winning because your betting wealth is higher. Finally, it practically protects you from going broke since you wager an amount proportional to you betting wealth. One of the major assumptions underlying the Dr. Z system is that you bet according to the Kelly criterion."