Down the Bookies: The First 50 Years of Betting Shops
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £4.50
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Down the Bookies: The First 50 Years of Betting Shops for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £4.50, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Licensed Betting Offices were legalised 50 years ago on 1st May 1961. This legalisation brought about a massive change in betting behaviour in Britain. Further liberalisation has prompted ground breaking innovations within the betting industry. 'Down the Bookies' tracks this interesting social tale, with facts, anecdotes and personal stories from industry insider John Samuels, a well-known bookmaker who has worked in the betting industry all of his life. Subjects covered in this fascinating and humourous history include stories about street runners, illegal betting, clock bags, tic tac language, fraud, race and match fixing, the horserace betting levy board, betting coups, money laundering, betting exchanges, and much more.
About the Author
JOHN SAMUELS has worked in the betting industry all his life and is currently a consultant working for a number of leading bookmakers.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
John Samuels has summarised the intricacies, scams, tricksters as well as the legitimate betting side of the business (which it is, of course) in a humorous and factual way. His experience highlights the pitfalls of offering money away.Graham Sharpe's foreward is excellent and I would recommend his 'Coups and Cons' published in 1991 by Aesculus Press. Born in the same year as Mr Sharpe, I had a head start on previous reviewer 'Punter' (enjoyed.) I was going into bookies in school lunch times in the late sixties. Devious dens, smoke-riddled, no seats. Windows blocked. Chalk boards. Misleading tannoys (no wonder 'The Sting' was successful). Usually found next to pubs (no explanations needed). The wooden sheds and independents have all but been taken over by the big conglomerates.
The scenario from John Samuels takes us right through the bookie's runner era, pre -technological age. The cons were illegal but fascinating. He tells of the Dark Future horse dupe with horses in multiples conveniently road-hacked, the Dagenham greyhound tote organised blockage to manipulate odds, Barney Curley hiding in the bushes watching the bookies squirm with a blocked telephone. The Ryan Price farcical Hill House manufacturing excess steroids to win the Schweppes hurdle. This is really a joy, in that if something can be a potential gamble, there are no lengths to achieve an outcome.
Jockeys and trainers are integral but leave it to John Samuels to tell the story of the betting industry in a personal comprehensive and experienced way, right from the core in a no-punches pulled style. I,as many others, have been part and parcel and have survived being wary. If it looks too good it probably isn't. This is a very special insight from a man who knows. Of course, many may not think the lottery, scratch cards, bingo are any different. Recent team event rigging are a natural progression. What of drug cheats? We take chances in life. Think of the odds! A superbly written and frank view of the speculative nature of the game and human nature (compulsion,greed?) I have not read anything as comprehensive as this before. Fascinating and highly recommended.(Kindle edition)
The scenario from John Samuels takes us right through the bookie's runner era, pre -technological age. The cons were illegal but fascinating. He tells of the Dark Future horse dupe with horses in multiples conveniently road-hacked, the Dagenham greyhound tote organised blockage to manipulate odds, Barney Curley hiding in the bushes watching the bookies squirm with a blocked telephone. The Ryan Price farcical Hill House manufacturing excess steroids to win the Schweppes hurdle. This is really a joy, in that if something can be a potential gamble, there are no lengths to achieve an outcome.
Jockeys and trainers are integral but leave it to John Samuels to tell the story of the betting industry in a personal comprehensive and experienced way, right from the core in a no-punches pulled style. I,as many others, have been part and parcel and have survived being wary. If it looks too good it probably isn't. This is a very special insight from a man who knows. Of course, many may not think the lottery, scratch cards, bingo are any different. Recent team event rigging are a natural progression. What of drug cheats? We take chances in life. Think of the odds! A superbly written and frank view of the speculative nature of the game and human nature (compulsion,greed?) I have not read anything as comprehensive as this before. Fascinating and highly recommended.(Kindle edition)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Terrific read! Personally I found it a bit of a walk down memory lane but if you want humorous but revealing insight into what betting was really like 'back in the day' then you won't be disappointed.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
My first recollection of betting shops is walking past one on my way home from school in the early eighties. For someone not old enough to enter the premises there was something fascinating about what was happening inside. With it's plain façade, covered windows and strange multi coloured strips of plastic covering the doorway, and a commentary that could be heard coming through speakers but was unintelligible when heard from outside there was a feeling that people going through the door really were stepping into the dark side. This book uncovers the world inside bookmakers at this time as well as the two decades prior and 30 years after, as the bookies moved from their humble and edgy beginnings to their modern day place in the retail arena. Being an occasional punter I have visited a number of bookmakers since those days and have seen what is behind that door but this book goes much further into the real workings of both the small, local, privately owned shop up to the larger multinational ones. The foreword by Graham Sharpe could not have been more accurate when Graham tells of how the book is full of amusing anecdotes and tales of the betting world, from illegal street runners to corporate takeovers leaving most of the high street bookies owned by large plc companies. The author tells tales of betting coups, race fixes, skulduggery, money laundering and simple stories of everyday life. A highly recommended read for anyone who has ever wandered into a betting shop or who like me just wondered what was going on behind those strange multi coloured plastic strips.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Ups and Downs of Gambling . . .
No prizes here for writing style, grammar or editing (the very first letter in my copy is a misprint) but this is still a very enjoyable trot through the last 50 years of punting... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Roger Risborough
Pleasant surprise
This book was a very pleasant surprise read. As an almost complete outsider to the murky (so I thought) world of betting shops, but with an interest in attending race meetings, I... Read more
Published 4 months ago by snowflake
A racing certainty
First thing to say is as Punter points out - this book is a HARDBACK not paperback as Amazon advertise so I was pleasantly surpised when it arrived. Read more
Published 6 months ago by BigMac
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Gambling Addiction
- Books > Biography > Sport > Horse Racing
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Biographies & Histories > Biographies & Memoirs
- Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Equestrian & Animal Sports > Horse Racing
- Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Hobbies & Games > Gambling > Horse Racing
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
