interesting, so when a fellow is taken up by the cops, and he says "thers no punt, im telling you truth", is that unfamiliar?

i have a lot of different nationalities partaking of my wilderness lodge, and a lot of the younger english ones use punt/play/burn/scam as equivalent.

i can see how they could merge, considering a colloquial "punt" [rugby/footall] as a maneuver with adverse risk.

Punt is a long gamble, most often used as part of "take a punt". As you say, probably related to football usage.

I don't know if punter (as in, customer) is related. I suppose buying something is always a bit of a punt to some extent.

Never heard of that usage (I'm also British).