I have not been into a TAB for sometime, but on the weekend I went in to see a horse go around as I was out and about.

It struck me immediately that the environment is pretty desperate and not conducive to an informed punter, rather quite full of people "trying their luck again this week".

The rushing around, the intelligence level of the conversations (myths and urban legends and conspiracy theories), the chatter during races and of course the poor odds, is it any wonder that serious punters would not set foot in there.

I had an mild disagreement with a patron, as I was trying to watch the race and he was rambling utter crap about who he knew and how a certain horse was going to win.

I asked him nicely "mate, would you mind if I can watch the race please, there's only a minute left of it."
This was not unreasonable as he was big noting as loud as he could during the entire race...and had a few suckers huddled around him.

His reply was "xxxx off"

Real nice, I said it in a friendly manner too.

Now I couldn't help hear the name of the horse he was talking about, (neither could anyone else), so I stayed to watch the race. It ran midfield.

As I left the TAB he was screaming at the T.V. about the jockey being dodgy.

It was obvious that the horse got a good run, but wasn't up to it.

As I left the TAB, a guy having a smoke out the front stopped me and said, "Don't worry about it, that guy is here every day, and every day he has a "special" that gets beaten easily and he's an obnoxious xxxx. In two hours he'll be asking for petrol money."

It all came rushing back to me like a bad nightmare, I'll never go in again.

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Exactly right, there. In todays day and age with all the online bookies etc there is no need to go to a tab anyway. Although in saying that a good mate manages a local hotel, small little set-up with a tab and appropriate screens. I know most of the locals and staff there and its a great place to have a quiet beer and have a bet without those distractions you mentioned. Unfortunately it only takes a couple of yobbos to ruin it for the people like yourself..

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get in the Q

I totally agree as well fellas. i find it funny that every time i go to my local TAB the same guys are there sitting in their same seats which im sure have the imprints of their arses in them by now. I'm 19 and have been involved in greyhound racing all my life and to a lesser extent horse and harness racing and i have never preached that i know about either. When i hear the conversations in the TAB about certain horses i generally let them go because i know i probably say some garbage like that sometimes too. however i do take offence when it comes to the doggies and don't mind at all offering my two bob's worth to any tom dick or harry whose got no idea what he's talking about. About 6 weeks ago i was at a pub watching my *** Jimbooma Jazz run at Albion Park. He was 4 lengths off the leader down the back and at 25/1 i was cheering my heart out for him to win. He went down by a head. A young fella next to me who was a local at the pub and i knew through some other people said to me "what d***head would name a *** that?" this fella clearly didnt know it was my *** and he got decked for it. Blokes like that **** me off when they have no idea what they are talking about.

I can agree with you all about the tabs, but there are always people that will go there to bet why?

because they know no better.
because they enjoy getting out with there mates.
because it gets them out of the house away from the misses for a few hours.

Looking at this thread i think wouldn't it be a good idea To have an all in one sports bar..a place where you have access to all tabs and online sports websites a wifi setup for those that wanted BYO they could sell drinks and food and stuff....they could provide coverage of the races via payTV.....wonder what sort of license they would need.