My name is Patrick John Power Jenkins, I was born on December 1st, 1965, in London. I grew up in Walthamstow, Aldersbrook, then Snaresbrook.
My Grandfather Tom Jenkins snr took over the John Power bookmaker pitch at Hackney Wick dogs, where the London stadium now stands in 1931. He soon after got a pitch at Walthamstow. My late father John, and his twin Tom worked for their father, and in the early 70’s the John Power pitch moved to the main ring at Walthamstow, where soon after Tom snr took a back seat, allowing the twins to take the reins, where within a decade they would become the largest greyhound bookmakers in the country, acquiring pitches at Harringay, Wembley and White City.
I would go over “The Stow” from the age of around 9/10 on a Saturday evening, then when I was 14 an old timer Kevin Brown, from Popular East London, who worked for the firm showing out prices from the cheap side, taught me how to “TicTac,” which is a way to convey prices, market moves and place and lay bets all by hand signals, whilst wearing white gloves, for easy recognition. Soon after I learned to clerk, writing the bets in a book/leger, something that needs tremendously quick and accurate mental arithmetic, especially at the Dogs where a vast majority of the bets are took within 5/6 minutes.
Throughout my teens I worked at all the London Dog tracks, Harringay on a Saturday Afternoon, Monday and Friday evenings, The Stow on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. My Grandfather Tom had a pitch out on the Hill at Epsom, where I would go as a child, then in my teens my dad John had a share with a rails bookmaker called Roy Christie, I would work on the bag at the big meetings Epsom, Royal Ascot etc.
Then in 1987, my Dad and myself financed a Bookmaker called Bryan West, who had boards and rails pitches everywhere, it was bang in the booming 80,s the “Yuppie”, “Loadsofmoney” era, everyday fortunes changed hands. I went racing 5/6 days a week, plus also took telephone bets of clients, not only on racing but on dogs and football as well. We had some huge punters, even by todays standards.
I understand how gambling works, from a layer, or punters point of view. I’m not a judge in any shape or form, I’m talking about the percentages, mathematics, coupled odds, which is the difference between winning and losing, not winners and losers, they average out.
I can advise, consult on any of the above, plus also have a couple of tiptop specialists in the IT side of gambling, who can build and create programmes, systems, algorithms, and automated betting systems tailored to your needs. In addition, if you are a sizeable punter and you’re experiencing trouble in “Getting on,” I have a vast network of bookmaker connections, which may solve your problems.
