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Not really a story, but I was reminded of the Destriero coup by the item on the Racing Post website today. I remember going into the E Coomes shop in Brighton by the Cricketers pub around lunchtime on the first morning of Cheltenham in 1991. I was looking down the prices for the opener, and just mentioned to the manager that a lot of them were looking very big, thanks to Destriero being so short.
"I wouldn't want to be taking him on," he replied. "One or two of the fellas who've been coming in to back that one you never see wasting their money in here. Big bets too." "Thanks," I said. "I think I'll leave the race alone." "I've been out and had a ton on it. These fellas know." "Oh well. Good luck." "Sure." As I said, not a story, but just a glimpse of how betting shops used to be. Why we all got hooked on the game. |
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Nice story Screaming,Wilsons were the seeds which have grown into Skybet.
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I thought Skybet took over Littlewoods?
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i been wandering where you have been ribero
do you remember brookie brooks ? |
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Hi Jimnast,no I don't,would any clues help?
Stewarty,Sky bought Surrey Racing and renamed it Skybet. |
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Thanks ribero. Who was it who took over Littlewoods? Anyone know? I had an account with them and it was a yellow telephone betting card. I'm sure they were based in Liverpool and may have been linked to Pools?
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I would guess it might be Stanleys?
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*The Pools.
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I had an account with Littlewoods too ;think they morphed into Stan James
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he was chairman of racecourse association one time hills rep
sporting life december 1980 not going to type it all in it will take to long abolitionists of bookmakers pitch controls face strong opposition from brookie brookes ,amongst other things he says the pitch rules on attendance protect courses,year ending april 1980 bookmakers and staff paid over 1 million in entrance costs, brooks argued that racecourse betting shops 2.8 percent of turnover goes to the racecourse must not proliferate to the extent they affect the on course market. heres the best bit he described racing without bookmakers as linda lovelace with lockjaw. |
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littlewoods betdirect
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a friend of mine who is involved with 32.red went to have a look at littlewoods when they were on the market he said they were in a right mess and had been run very badly.
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Very good Jimnast,it does ring a bell now but obviously well before I was interested in bookmaker politics.
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Littlewoods was a retail and football betting company founded in Liverpool, England, by John Moores in 1923.[1] By the 1980s, it had grown to become the largest private company in Europe, but subsequently declined in the face of increased competition from rivals and the Internet. The original company – employing 4,000 people – was wound up in 2004; however, its brand name is retained by The Very Group as the online retailer Littlewoods.com.
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Driver's mini skirt story reminded me of one of my tasks when working in Wardour Street was to visit a number of "members only " film clubs and check the managers and staff were accounting for all the takings and sales. A couple of the film titles I remember are Trader Horney and Zero in and Scream . Life really was fun back then and of course as a 22 year old you just took it for granted.
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front page of the paper ribero was jackpot fiasco another tote clanger written by big mac,part of the story was the sacking of bob cooper general manager of tote credit by woodrow wyatt for gross insubordination.
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Yes remember the Tote thing with Wyatt and Big Mac but can't remember the details etc as it wouldn't have really interested me in those days.
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Aglionby's inquiry originated in John McCririck's exposure of the manipulation of a Tote dual forecast dividend at Carlisle on July 4, 1979. McCririck was then an award-winning investigative journalist with The Sporting Life.
When Shine On, at 11-1, beat Tina's Gold, at 20-1, in an 18-runner handicap, and the Tote dual forecast paid a derisory 45p for a 10p stake, McCririck refused to accept the Tote's assertion that it was "just one of those inexplicable turn-ups". An anonymous telephone caller told McCririck that the reason the dividend was so small was that a pounds 50 dual forecast on the winning combination had been sent by Tote Credit to Carlisle after the race. It was not the only occasion on which bets were transmitted after the result of the race was known. Bruce George, Labour MP for Walsall South, joined The Sporting Life in calling for the resignation of Woodrow Wyatt, the Tote's blustering chairman. When Sir Timothy Kitson and Bob Mellish, chairman and vice-chairman of the All-Party Racing and Bloodstock Committee, urged the Home Secretary to act, Wyatt withdrew his opposition to an inquiry, and Aglionby began his investigation. His report reveals that there had been complaints about the procedures for transmitting off-course bets into on-course pools since at least 1968 and that, as early as 1963, "transmission of bets to the course after the result of the race was known was approved". AGLIONBY concluded that the procedures in force between September 1, 1977, when Tote Credit Limited was established, and July 17, 1979, when the practice of transmitting bets after the result was known was prohibited, were unfair and open to abuse. "Unfortunately," he reported, "abuses and malpractices did occur, resulting in loss to the public, because on occasions punters did have their winnings improperly reduced." When dividends - calculated but yet to be declared - looked particularly high, "revisions occurred from time to time, always resulting in a substantial downward movement of the dividend". When other bookmakers wanted to place hedging bets into Tote pools, the bets were collated by the Tote but were not transmitted to the racecourse until after the result was known. Aglionby reported: "I found that, from time to time, not all these trade bets were transmitted. All the winning bets were transmitted but not all the losing ones." That was the case on April 7, 1979, when off-course trade bets totalling pounds 60 on Lake City, the winner of the 2,000 Guineas Trial at Salisbury, were transmitted and included in the win pool, but pounds 51 of losing bets were not. In the same race, revised 'reads' - informing the racecourse of off-course bets to be included in the pool - resulted in a reduction in the dual forecast dividend, from pounds 62.86 to pounds 5.77. In June 1979, a senior supervisor in the racing room at Tote House invented a fictitious name and, after the race results were known, transmitted hedging bets under the invented name. On one occasion the effect was to reduce a dual forecast dividend from pounds 5.68 to pounds 4.99. In the case of the Carlisle race, the intention had been to transmit pounds 5 on the winning combination, a decision that Aglionby described as "unjustified". In error, a pounds 50 winning bet was placed in the pool, as a result of which the dividend was reduced from pounds 13.41 to 45p. The malpractices were not systematic. According to Aglionby, "these various abuses and malpractices were not the consequence of any arrangement by employees of the Tote for their own financial advantage", but were motivated by "misplaced enthusiasm". Staff acted to help the Tote's finances, rather than their own. Aglionby found that neither Wyatt nor the Tote's senior management team were aware of the abuses. There was one exception. Aglionby firmly rejected Wells's claim that he was ignorant of the malpractices. The managing director of Tote Credit resigned. |
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Brookie Brooks was an Air Commodore in the 2WW.He also had a share in Alfie Bruce's rails pitches.He was a down to earth chap unlike recent RCA Chairmen.
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Littlewoods
was their advert yellow and green print? |
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Think I remember him now Chatto,was he a stocky guy with a beard?
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penzance07 Mar 21 18:48Joined: 26 Feb 04 | Topic/replies: 10,578 | Blogger: penzance's blog
Littlewoods was their advert yellow and green print? Yes penzance. |
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cheers
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Made plenty from Betdirect, i remember one where the offer was if ronaldo scores and your bet loses then bet refunded as cash up to £500 and i did it the offer paid out after the back and lay
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Don't think Luvbet has been mentioned. Pioneers in early market betting, quite willing to put their heads above the parapet. Sadly finally shot down.
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Littlewoods were acquired by Betdirect who were acquired by 32red who were acquired by Stan James who were acquired by Unibet
I THINK!! |
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rosspoint
came out of brentwood essex loads of averts in the sporting life soon went tips up |
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Mawdsleys one of the earliest using debit card betting
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san q
you say surrey were a top firm,top men them all,old school gents. they also closed winning accounts i dug up some old letters october 1990 i got mine,to be fair back then you got letters unlike today but it amounted to the same thing. |
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3 more to ponder over
chase racing london krullind ipswich frontline newmarket |
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Hi jimnast yes some accounts were closed(to be fair)not many and generally a very good reason had to be there not just winning.Merv and his right hand men loved taking on the lumpy clients.Kept lots of lumpy accounts open.Perhaps your face didn't fit.lol
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littlewoods had purple branding in the noughties when they mostly went into online casino and poker. They had some good deals with a poker forum, paying ppl into live tournaments.
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i agree all the firms back then gave punters a very fair period to make there decisions on if they were viable or not ,that is the word most common in the letters,the one thing everyone of them included was all anti post bets of course will be honoured.
its unbelievable to say now but by far the best i ever dealt with was fred done,both in the shops on the credit accounts. |
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and not on the credit accounts
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perhaps you might know the person who signed the letter from surrey san q,hard to read but either gary or tony brown it was october 1990
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Whats happened to Wilson bet? Last time i spoke to Mervs Son he/they was entering into some exotic tote bet venture.
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I was in a queue in San Diego railway station on the morning of the breeders cup when it was in Del mar and standing directly behind me were the guys mentioned earlier who were involved with skybet and previously with Mervyn Wilson ,turns out they traded with a good pal of mine and it was all my business they were getting ,they liked a punt too as it happens.Sure one of them had moved to Arizona to live,can't remember his first name.
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If memory serves correctly there was a bookie in the '90s (Newmarket-based I think) with whom I had a telephone account who were the first to offer early prices on all races.
Anybody know the name? They remain the only bookie who went out of business holding my funds, never to be seen again. |
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davros
that sounds like frontline they ceased in 1996 around the time of the european championships they left plenty over. |
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Didn't they have a few horses in training jimnast?
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