Ed Murray may be gawping at the fetching curves of a fiery red £150,000 Ferrari Maranello, but I'm still reeling from the 27-year-old's last comment. 'I could just about afford that,' he'd said, po-faced, his breath condensing on the window at Ferrari's showroom in South Kensington, London. 'It wasn't always like this, though,' Ed assures me. 'Back when I was working for IG Index, when I saw people sticking £50 on a snooker frame, I was like, "How can you put on that much?" It's just a different culture now.'

It's certainly a culture in keeping with our surroundings. We turn onto super-chic Sloane Street, with its fashionable boutiques and bistros, and as we trace the shopping steps of the likes of supermodel Elle MacPherson and actor Hugh Grant, I ask Ed how his present career as a professional gambler came to pass.

'I've always been fascinated by betting, even when I was a kid.