Ladbrokes and O2 – are you out there?

The Witch Doctor remembers as a child willing herself to become old enough to gamble on the fruit machines buried deep in a “games arcade” at a holiday resort. There were other interesting contraptions too with the potential to make a child very rich. When she did reach the designated age she lost all her pocket money. She soon gave up.

The adult Witch Doctor in the past has been known to do the odd line in the football pools, occasionally tried to “Spot the Ball” (she thought she could do this scientifically by following the direction of the players eyes). She never won anything so she soon gave up.

However, she can still feel the gambler’s wonderful adrenaline surge and can fully understand the addiction. Maybe that is why she gave up.

Anyway, this post is really about her mobile phone.

If you have been reading this blog over the years, you will be aware that The Witch Doctor is a great fan of iPhones, iPads and all things Apple dating right back to the very first Macintosh. It has to be said, though, that she is not seduced by every latest upgraded version. She is very selective before she buys a new model.

Take her iPhone for example. She reckons she was the first UK witch to purchase an iPhone – the first day the first model was released here. The interesting thing is that she has never upgraded this phone. Her kids, friends and colleagues who mocked her at the time now all have their own iPhones and text relentlessly from them. They are all rather stupid and ill mannered. A phone is a phone. Even an iPhone is a phone.

Anyway, all this is beside the point.

It so happens that The Witch Doctor regards her iPhone only as an emergency device – a kind of accessory to the Book of Spells. It is a means of communicating that she has a flat tyre or breakdown to one of her kids who will then come out and sort it or phone for a garage to do the needful. It is also used as a means of her family contacting her when they are experiencing some kind of calamity that requires a witch’s presence. No-one except her immediate family and two friends know her mobile number. She gives it out to no-one. There is no need.

Today, The Witch Doctor received a text on her now becoming-a-collectable iPhone. It was from Ladbrokes. It advised me that if I bet £10, I get £30 free bets.

Has someone, somewhere along the line said “do her phone.”

If so, is this witch important enough to have her phone “done”?

Or does everyone, in this age of transparency have his or her “phone done?” by somebody or another.

So Ladbrokes and O2, can you tell me how a betting outfit knows The Witch Doctor’s phone number?