Winseer:
My advice to habitual gamblers is “Keep it small, and afforable - never back single-figure prices, always do multibets rather than singles”.
Back in the days of mechanical one-armed-bandits, Mills, Jennings, Aristocrat sort of thing, there were players whose advice was that if you pulled the handle down very very slowly, then gave it a sharp tug when the spring was fully wound and just before the cams went over-centre, that this was more likely to result in a win. This is complete and total ■■■■■■■■ of course. Gamblers seem to have a limitless supply of kiddology and self-delusion.
There is a vanishingly small number of people who make money betting on horse racing, and these people are sufficiently involved in horse racing to be able to influence the results of races. My Dad was involved in greyhound racing in the 1930s and it was a common strategy to give dogs a large bowl of water just before a race to slow them down. But for a punter getting his information from the Sporting Life, no chance.