"It is a risky business and you can't afford to lose. 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."

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. Twenty years ago there were 400 bookies working the tracks, but now there are only 185.

"But the country picnic races still draw the crowds. I attend several picnic meetings a year but also work the greyhounds.

"I can leave work and still get to night meetings in Ballarat, Bendigo and Horsham. The dogs are fantastic."

Mr Thomas travels a long way for picnic meetings. "In one weekend, I clocked up 1800 kilometres driving from Robinvale to Bairnsdale."

He 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 dog coursing meeting at Terang 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 a 24-hour endurance race to find out who could run the farthest at Moyston near Ararat in 1989.

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 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."