Michael Tabor - Bookmaking Business

Bookmaking Business

Tabor worked for commission agents and credit bookmakers before setting up in business for himself in 1968. He borrowed £30,000 from a Jewish financier to buy two bankrupt betting shops from Andrew Gordon, retaining the name Arthur Prince and expanding the business until he owned a chain of 114 shops. In 1995 he sold the business to Coral for a reported £27 million. "There’s an old saying I like," Tabor said, "which is that good punters make good bookmakers. I have found that to be very true.”

In 1970 Tabor was banned for life from all racecourses by the Jockey Club who claimed that he had paid two jockeys, Duncan Hughes and Tom Jennings, for information. Tabor had the lifetime ban overturned three years later. In 1997 Tabor told The Observer that the ban had helped in causing him to concentrate on building the success of his business.