'It took me five years to go from part-time cashier to champion'

Last year’s champion Robert Mabbett had just two words of advice for the remaining contenders in the race to be the 2017 Racing Post/SIS Betting Shop Manager of the Year when he met them at Doncaster last weekend: be yourself.

The 37-year-old Betfred manager, from Brough in Yorkshire, also described his feelings 12 months on from winning, what the competition means to him and the challenges facing the gambling sector.

First, he defended the industry and what it does to protect vulnerable customers as the government pledged to reduce the maximum stakes on FOBTs from £100. He said: “We try to monitor our customers and do what we can as an industry to promote responsible gambling.”