Apologies if anyone has raised this before.

Yesterday evening I was at Bramall Lane to watch Sheffield Eagles v Leigh (yes, I know...). Amidst the gripping excitement of this titanic clash I got to wondering about the Golden Gamble, the announcer at half-time having said that the prize was £290.

Given that the crowd was very small - looked like no more than a few hundred - this seemed a pretty good payout to me. I remember in the CP days when the late (and much missed, one of the true gentlemen of the game) Gordon Harrison started the concept at Wigan the prize would often be £2000, but these days it rarely gets anywhere near that. On the rare occasions I get to away matches these days the prizes at other clubs with much smaller crowds than Wigan often appear to be very good.

What changed - has the pay-out % altered or have people in Wigan lost interest in the Golden Gamble - does anyone have any ideas?

In the past, Gordan 'Golden Gamble' Harrison's days, the prize was always a good indication of the crowd. £1500 usually meant there was around 15,000 in the stadium, £2000 usually meant there was around 20,000 on......

I would say this.

Going back to the CP days, it was a much awaited announcement as you would get hundreds of speccies under the Pop Stand mimicking the 'Fifteen hundred pounds Gordon', in a high pitched voice.

I believe that was "the lovely Kath" if I remember Gordon's announcements correctly. The tannoy at Central Park was truly awful...

"What's the size of the prize today Christine?"

"And the prize everybody wants to win..... they're made in Wigan, they're wrapped in Wigan..... it's the jar of Uncle Joe's Mint Balls"

Legend.

My Dad won the half time draw at Wakefield a couple years back, won just £100 even though there was a good crowd on (Probably to do with the fact we didnt realise we had won until after the game and got the money sent to us). When we went back this year the prize money was alot more than £100.

I think Wigan's payout's I usually quite good, but I wouldnt be able to compare to CP days as I wasnt old enough.

I got the prize I wanted a few years ago, Craig Smiths playing top. Had I won the main prize, I would have asked could I swap it for the shirt! Some one I know very well won the jar or Uncle Joe's twice in one month.

I've won the Golden gamble in the past (£1800), and i was told that the prize was 50% of the takings, up to a maximum of £2000.
Therefore if they sell 3600 £1 tickets you get £1800 like i did, but if they sell 6000 £1 tickets you get £2000.

1,700 Deano, including a pie eater of the C&W parish doing the crossbar challenge!

i still remember the golden gamble that they did a hook up with American Airlines, who donated some flights.....


the prizes that week went...
1st £1500
2nd a shirt or something
3rd a jar of uncle joes
4th 2 return flights toFlorida
5th 2 return flights to washington

the look on the guys face who won the mints was a classic!

You wouldn't want to win 5th prize, would you?

That was "the lovely Kath", Billy Blan's daughter, went to school with her, definitely lovely!

I would imagine that the opening of Tote on the stadium has had an impact on the sales of Golden Gamble. I don't remember there being a bookies at CP. - Do these other stadiums have betting shops on site.

We love the golden gamble as we have had both Feka's and Pats shirts in recent years and a family trip to AMF bowling.

I can't recall the last time the prize money was up to £2000 so this obviously proves that sales aren't as big as what they used to be.

I know times are hard, but come on anything that can plough money back into the development fund has be worth a quid of anybodies money, so come on fellow wiganers get the mothballs out of your pockets.

correct............

I stand corrected but am amazed there were that many on. Good win for your boys, you looked very good particularly when you just did the simple stuff up the middle, you were far too strong for the Eagles.

As for the cross bar challenge it was shockingly bad!