Jamie

Head Honcho & Ex Under 11s Liverpool Goalkeeper

‘Dropping’ means nothing to most people (or they think it’s a term used for consuming a drug/pill). But from the age of 17 (yes underage) it meant everything to me.

I was in a pub close to where I lived to play pool with a good friend of mine. Whilst he was lining up one of his reds to middle left pocket I had put a quid in a fruit machine called BattleAxe. My friend came running over and said it was ‘dropping’. I had no idea what he was talking about but on the 1st spin the bonus rolled in and the BattleAxe sign at the top went red.

What I learned was that ‘dropping’ means that the machine is full of money and MUST pay out. My friend was right. The machine was red and now guaranteeing the massive £25 jackpot and a repeat chance. And boy did it repeatedly. 3 times. £100 from a 25p spin.

Early First Win Got me

From that day forward I was hooked and Barcrest was probably laughing. I’m sure I’m not the first gambler that has been dragged in by an early first win. I used to think that was a tactic from the online sites to enable new players to win early, to continue playing, and eventually losing.

I didn’t expect that my first experience gambling would lead me to work in the gambling industry which is exactly what happened in years to come. As you can imagine, the pool game didn’t continue but drinks on me certainly did!

I couldn’t believe what happened. This was a buzz I had never experienced before! I spoke with my friend who I knew liked to play the fruit machines who told me that he met someone in the pub who was playing them daily and had tricks and ‘cheats’ to beat and knew when these fruit machines were ready to pay. There was more to it than just ‘dropping’ as I was soon to find out.

3 months before I was about to start University I was introduced to this nice fella called ‘Blady’ who was from Albania but had met people online who had told him how to win on fruit machines.

Love For the Fruties

I loved ‘Fruities’ ever since that win and when he told me to come with him to South London (over an hour drive) and pub hop playing fruit machines I laughed but agreed. We travelled to Barking via the North Circular Road not having a clue what was about to entail. From being told we must buy drinks to stay in the pub or the landlord asking us to ‘get out’ since these machines were for regulars only. it was quite extraordinary to say the least.

There is nothing like going into a local boozer and buying 2 red bulls and then hearing the clamour of £100 coins come pouring out of the machine as everyone in the pub starts to turn around, looking at the two guilty-looking guys standing next to the fruity.

Droppin’ Continues

I got to South London at 10 am for the Wetherspoons opening. We ended near Croydon at 5.30 pm after visiting close to 60 pubs. I heard so many ‘dropping’ machines & had drunk too many fizzy drinks. I was now back in my Mum’s Fiat Brava which we took for the first of many ‘fruity road trips’. We had over £1600 in pound coins underneath the carpet cover of the front seat. We were both buzzing but were too late to take the coins to a bank and change them into notes.

I took my £800 and so did Blady and that was a VERY good day’s work. These trips continued for a while but sadly like anything the tricks were coming out to a wider public and it was now becoming a race to get to machines first and not risk them all being ‘dead’ from someone else winning.

The dropping dream was coming to an end and now it was time to study at University.

Casino and Bookmakers Studies?

If only I could have done my degree in ‘Casino and Bookmakers Studies’, I would have got a 1st in any exam without opening my eyes.

University is where I met Josh, not actually at university but through mutual friends who knew we had the same degenerate twinkle in our eyes! 6 months into university at Manchester I still hadn’t been to a lecture nor collected my library card.

But I had visited at least 7 casinos in the Manchester area and knew (sadly too well) many of the croupiers and most the guys from the local bookies who worked behind the glass shutters. No one wants to study at University but I took it to a whole new level and blew 2 student loans in 4 years with nothing to show for it other than a few massive wins that will live with me forever.

Strangely at the casinos, the slots didn’t really interest me then as I preferred the fruit machines in bookies so I got involved in the standard roulette and blackjack. To cut a long story short, Manchester was basically a 20 month-long Vegas vacation (without Sun or anything related to Vegas other than gambling!.)

I eventually dropped out of Manchester and restarted slightly grown-up at Birmingham University where I actually did get a degree and realised I wasn’t as degenerate as first thought!

Stepped Into Online Gambling

Don’t get me wrong the gambling didn’t stop at Birmingham but I didn’t have the same influences so to speak as I did at Manchester. Now I just played online. I started playing poker online at Ladbrokes as the infamous ‘burberry1’ and then moved onto PokerStars.

I wasn’t very good at poker and when you realize you have more chance of winning at the casino than at poker then that is the time you realize you need to slow down the poker stakes!

My 2 biggest poker scores were funnily enough with Josh where you can read more about here. He will argue that he is the reason for the wins and I probably won’t argue back!

In the Game For 13 years

So as you can see from my teenage years I had flirted a lot with the gambling scene and it comes as no surprise I have worked in it for the past 13 years. My gambling career started way before we launched Fruity Slots.

It has been an interesting ride that’s brought us to this point! But here we are in the most cutting edge industry providing you guys with the chance to watch me, Josh and others, streaming online slots and casino games.

We hope that from our experiences as a player and also working within the industry that fruityslots.com will provide you plenty of entertainment and engagement with our channel. Stay tuned and please subscribe so we can deliver the best content possible to you all! Check out the rest of our casino streamers!