RACING bookmaker Garry Thomas concedes a bookie must be a gambler but not a sore loser to be in the business.

"It is a risky business and you can't afford to lose. But I've had those days when I lost all the cash I came with. You can't be a bad loser. When you win on the next race you soon forget what you lost."

Mr Thomas says that, these days, bets are up but crowds at city race meetings have declined, forcing him to chase the more lucrative country picnic meetings and greyhound tracks. "With crowds down, competition is tough. We work a lot harder now that sports betting can be accessed everywhere: on Foxtel, the internet and phone."

Mr Thomas started as a bookie's clerk for Ray Boundy in Cranbourne in 1983. It was Mr Boundy who suggested he apply for a bookmaker's licence. He did and started as a bookie in 1988, attending his first meeting at Terang Corsing in the days when bookies yelled out the odds and worked from betting sheets and colourful number boards.

Today, Mr Thomas works at the tracks with a laptop and flat screen computerised board. "It's different technology but it's basically the same. I still have have to do my homework before I come to the track and study the form guide."

The most unusual meeting he attended was "where I won a bit of money working at Moyston near Ararat in 1989 at a 24-hour endurance race to find out who could run the furthest in that time.

"I got the money that day".

Mr Thomas part-owns several race horses and greyhounds.

"So far, none have been above average."

In 2007 he had a heart attack at the Charlton dogs.

"I left the the gear, the money, everything, and had five days in hospital but was back working in two weeks."

These days he works full time for the Cranbourne Training Complex.

"With book-making weekends and full-time employment, racing takes up most of my time. I intend to book-make for many years yet. I'd like to get to 40 years; I've only another 19 to go."