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In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, a betting shop is a shop away from a racecourse ("off-course") where one can legally place
bets
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...
in person with a licensed
bookmaker
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.
History
The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795.
Range of events
Bookma ...
. Most shops are part of chains including
William Hill,
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...
, or
Coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...
. In Australia and New Zealand, they are operated by
totalisator agencies In the United States post
PASPA, brands like DraftKings, FanDuel and William Hill have a presence. Betting shops include America's Betshop and Betfred.
Scale
In 2016, there were around 9,000 betting shops located in the UK. The number of shops grew rapidly in the 21st century. One street in
Newham
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...
has the largest number of bookmakers concentrated in one place: 18 on the street and about 80 in a local zone. However in 2020, during the coronavirus crisis, many betting shops closed permanently.
Legislation
Off-course betting
Off-track betting (or OTB; in British English, off-course betting) is sanctioned gambling on horse racing outside a race track.
U.S. history
Before the 1970s, only the state of Nevada allowed off-track betting. Off-track betting in New York wa ...
was illegal until the
Betting and Gaming Act 1960
The Betting and Gaming Act 1960 was a British Act of Parliament that legalised additional forms of gambling in the United Kingdom. It was passed on 1 September 1960 and came into effect on 1 January 1961.
The Act
Based on the recommendations of ...
was introduced, although bets could be placed at a racecourse ("on-course") on any event, not just the races being held at that course. Credit betting by post or telephone was legal because of a loophole in the law of "resorting to a house for the purpose of betting" was taken to mean physically resorting to the house rather than simply communicating with someone there.
Gambling in the United Kingdom
Gambling in the United Kingdom is regulated by the Gambling Commission on behalf of the government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) under the Gambling Act 2005. This Act of Parliament significantly updated the UK's gamb ...
is common and not regarded necessarily as a
vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
but a "little flutter on the
gee-gees", but there are strict controls on where and how a bet can be placed (they may not be placed in
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
s, for example). The
Gambling Act 2005
The Gambling Act 2005 (2005 c 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It mainly applies to England and Wales, and to Scotland, and is designed to control all forms of gambling. It transfers authority for licensing gambling from t ...
covers those controls, and the
Gambling Commission
The Gambling Commission is an executive non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for regulating gambling and supervising gaming law in Great Britain. Its remit covers arcades, betting, bingo, casinos, ...
oversees them.
Until 2005, it was illegal to advertise on the outside of the shop any offer of odds, and most had blank windows. The Gambling Act 2005 relaxed the rules a little, but most betting shops still have covered windows much like
sex shop
A sex shop is a retailer that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, pornography, and other related products.
An early precursor of the modern sex shop was a chain of stores set up in th ...
s; it is illegal to allow people from outside to see inside.
Facilities
At a betting shop, typically there will be noticeboards listing the racing form for the day's
horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
from trade issues of the ''
Racing Post
''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 6 ...
'' or a similar equestrian publication.
Most betting shops now offer free tea and coffee to attract
punters. They usually have large televisions covering all the events, like an American
sports bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
. Until 1986 they were not allowed to have live broadcast coverage but the bookmaker often had a small
portable television
A handheld television is a portable device for watching television that usually uses a TFT LCD or OLED and CRT color display. Many of these devices resemble handheld transistor radios.
History
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Panasonic and Si ...
or
transistor radio
A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Following the invention of the transistor in 1947—which revolutionized the field of consumer electronics by introducing small but powerful, convenien ...
hidden behind the counter. Because punters could not see or hear live coverage, some bookmakers deceived punters by claiming a different result from the actual one, or could otherwise alter the declared
starting price
In horse racing, the starting price (SP) is the odds prevailing on a particular horse in the on-course fixed-odds betting market at the time a race begins. The method by which SPs are set for each runner varies in different countries but is genera ...
.
This changed in 1986 and
Satellite Information Services
Sports Information Services (SIS) is a company which provides content and production services to the betting industry; such as horse racing and greyhound racing, to betting shops in the United Kingdom and Ireland and other worldwide destinati ...
was formed to screen live races to betting shops. Greyhound races are now timed to the second on the feed pictures, since a scam that intercepted and slightly delayed the broadcast feed for
greyhound races, which typically last less than two minutes. By delaying the feed slightly, an accomplice on-course who had already seen the result could communicate by telephone with one in a betting shop off-course, who would bet on a racing certainty.
The larger chains also operate at sports grounds, where bets are placed using pre-printed betting slips. Winnings from bets placed at these facilities can then usually be collected on site, by post or from one of the high street branches.
Fixed-odds betting terminals
In 2013–2014 there was significant controversy with more betting shops springing up on
High street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
s in the United Kingdom encouraging poor people to gamble, especially to play
fixed odds betting terminal
A fixed odds betting terminal (FOBT, sometimes pronounced "fob-tee") is a type of electronic slot machine normally found in betting shops in the United Kingdom and introduced in 1999. The terminals allow players to bet on the outcome of various ...
s. Betting shops are strictly regulated in the number of machines they can have and the payout they can provide.
On 27 April 2014, the Government announced proposals to give local authorities more power to limit the number and form of betting shops in their jurisdictions.
A £2 stake limit was introduced for FOBTs in 2019.
[FT https://www.ft.com/content/d155c676-5178-11e9-b401-8d9ef1626294]
See also
*
Gambling in the United Kingdom
Gambling in the United Kingdom is regulated by the Gambling Commission on behalf of the government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) under the Gambling Act 2005. This Act of Parliament significantly updated the UK's gamb ...
*
Tipster
A tipster is someone who regularly provides information (tips) on the likely outcomes of sporting events on internet sites or special betting places.
History
In the past tips were bartered for and traded but nowadays, thanks largely to the Inter ...
*
Bookmaker
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.
History
The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795.
Range of events
Bookma ...
References
{{Reflist
Bookmakers
Gambling in the United Kingdom