Mike Atherton Gambling: Interesting Read

I can't say I ever thought of Mike Atherton gambling. A great cricket player and noted sportsman. However, he must have a gambling aspect about him as back in 2006 he had a book published by Hodder & Stoughton with the title:  Mike Atherton Gambling: A Story of Triumph & Disaster. 

Intriguing. 

The first idea I had of this publication was reading Dave Nevison's No Easy Money published in 2009. Where he mentioned Atherton had visited his home for an interview and possible story for his book. 

This is quite a humorous tale in ways - seeing two sides to a story. In fact, Nevison featured in the book under the chapter: Dave Nevison: the Horse Player. Nevison, who admitted he'd had a terrible year betting had £30 at 150/1 on Betfair exchange on a horse called Ice And Fire running at Southwell. Atherton and Nevison watched the race and amazingly the rag won the race for a profit of £4,500. 

Nevison said in his book No Easy Money that Atherton must have thought he was the best gambler in the world. 

However, what Atherton didn't know was that Nevison admitted (in his book) that if the horse has lost his balance would have been zero. 

It made me smile imagining the extreme of two realities. 

I will continue to read Mike Atherton Gambling as is has a lot of stories with information I haven't seen elsewhere. I've read a chapter or two about the early days of Betfair and Andrew Black the founder of the platform, who was also a professional gambler. And an interesting chapter about bookmaker Barry Dennis. 

I will detail a few stories. 

Photo: JC 2024