Paul,
As you know at one time i got into day trading, & did rather well at it, but the constant ramping in the room that i then went into, i put a short on the dow (at the wrong time) & was locked in over a bank holiday, the dow just went up & up & it eliminated all my profits & I had nothing left which i could bet with. Still have £80 in D$F but you cant bet on anything with that, so i just buy the shares now & have done very well over the last year, Total portfolio's up over 30%.
One has to be very skilled or very lucky to beat a bookmaker.