What Is A Bookies Job
Job Title Bookie Employee Duties & Responsibilities 1) Manages establishment to receive pay off bets placed by horse racing patrons. 2) Prepares and issues lists of approximate handicap odds on each. A bookie was a slang term more often used when online sports betting wasn't readily available. Bookies were more popular prior to the internet explosion because they could take bets in person or over the.
Runners clocks like this were used in bookies from the 1920s until the 1960s.
At that time, the only way to place a bet on the horses or dogs was by either placing it on the racetrack, or with a bookmaker.
A ‘clock’ was a stopwatch in a solid steel case and one, or two, very stout canvass bags with concertina metal openings that could be locked to the case with a sharp snap. The betting slips were put in the bag before the start of the race, the bag was locked in and this started one of the stopwatches.
The clock, when full, was then taken by a 'runner' to the bookmaker’s office and exchanged for another. The bookmaker, who had the only key, could then unlock the clock and check that bets had been placed before the start of races.
In the 1960s, when the gambling act came into force, this type of betting became illegal and runners clocks were no longer used.
How Much Money Do Bookies Make
You can read about the experiences of a Black Country bookies runner on the Quarry Bank History site
Year: 1930
Being A Bookie
Ref: 1978/068/001
Theme: Domestic and Cultural Life
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