THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED at BookieBusters

One of the most common ‘criticisms’ regarding BookieBusters, a fault often levied directly at the mercurial Joe Jackson, is quite simply, that the steady drip cannot possibly work. The idea that patience, selective staking and absorbing advice can yield a profit of £36,000 in twelve short months, is viewed by non believers as fantasy.

Changing public opinion on this issue is undoubtedly difficult. People’s ideas are rigid, fixed, inflexible. Yet it’s worth remembering dramatic shifts in opinion are frequent and are possible. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, implausible that the ‘steady drip’ will one day be embraced by the nation.

More controversial, potentially dangerous, and explosive ideas are copied by millions every single day. The Atkins diet, religious fanaticism and living your life in accordance with tabloid horoscopes, to name but a few. All more damaging, more implausible, and more ridiculous than the steady drip will ever be. Yet all copied and followed by millions.

To highlight the potential dramatic shift in public opinion I speak of, let me rewind. Rewind to the 30th June 1998. Hardly a date that sticks in the mind, yet I’ll rekindle memories of heartache, anguish, frustration and disgust with just two words………… David Beckham.

Beckham’s actions that night left a public distraught and the nation on its knees with despair. He was pilloried by the press, rounded on by the masses, and disliked by even the most liberal of liberal. Yet the transformation in the Beckham given that red card, and the Beckham we see today, must make even the fiercest critic of the steady drip, at least open their mind to the possibility of change, of success.

Beckham’s shift from tabloid fodder to cultural icon is, perhaps, the most dramatic variation in public opinion in our life time. His journey from ‘stupid little boy’ to ‘God like super hero’ is in itself, a tale of Biblical proportions.

His ability to almost parody a ‘hard man’ image, introduces a hint of post modern irony, especially the shot of him sporting a blood splattered face and Mohawk haircut on the cover of ‘The Face’ in 1999.

The shift in public opinion doesn’t end there. Football culture is homophobic. Terrace humour draws on fears of sexual infidelity and sexual humiliation. Songs and chants about player’s wives having affairs are not uncommon. One aimed at Beckham (or more precisely Posh) is the now infamous ‘Does she take it up the a**e?’.

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Fans fascination with anal sex suggests a working class masculine culture disturbed by fears of the feminine and the homo-erotic.

Beckham offers fans a convenient symbol on to which such fears can be concentrated. Yet again, where we had once seen a petulant child, we now see a man who seldom reacts even under the most intense of pressure.

Of all the images which will survive over time, one of the most powerful is Beckham cupping his hands to his ears and facing a vicious verbal assault from Chelsea fans. Facing them head on. He earned and won their respect, first grudgingly, eventually genuinely.

Beckham’s ability to get away with a degree of narcissism (self love), fashion victimisation and consumer indulgence challenges the rigid conventions of working class masculinity in football subculture, that marked him out as different, as deviant. Yet again, he pulls it off. Where there was once resentment, bitterness, hate, there is now respect, admiration, belief.

And so we arrive back at the steady drip, belief. No idea or person immediately warrants credence, validity, or faith. Two things sway opinion significantly, actions and time.

In the time passed since that red card, it’s Beckham’s actions that have lead to the transformation I speak of. In the world cup qualifier against Greece, Beckham transcended the boundaries of football and comic book hero. From Billy Whiz, to Mr Fantastic, he was Roy Race.

You can only be judged by your action. That is where the Joe’s system, and the bookiebusters team must be given a chance.

Gambling, like David Beckham, is a combination of uncertainty, commitment, spectacle and magic moment. In the same way time and action has dramatically altered our opinion of the most significant British footballer of his generation, can even the most fiercest critic of the system, say for certain that one day the steady drip will not be embraced in the same way?

What we are dealing with is a Gambling revolution of potentially industry changing proportions. The internet has opened the door for some of the most astute gambling minds on the planet to come together, and force a change of public opinion, that could eventually surpass even that of perceptions of Beckham.

In the 1960s Gill Scott Heron sang "The Revolution will not be televised". He was right. It’s happening right here, right now.