ABSTRACT
The football pools emerged in the 1870s to the great disdain of the English, Scottish and Welsh football authorities, but did not become a major gambling activity until the formation of Littlewood's Football Pools at the beginning of 1923. It was soon joined by several hundred companies, the most important being Vernons, Shermans, Zetters, Murphys and Strangs. By the early 1930s, the pool turnover was about £8 million, and grew rapidly to around £40 million in 1939, before the Second World War led to the formation of Unity Pools amongst the main companies, and its business was cut by more than 75 per cent. Nevertheless, by the 1930s most of the working class were ‘investing’ in the pools and checking the results on a Saturday afternoon driven on by the Littlewood's Sports Log, and other pool company magazines, and the endless photos of pools winners being given their prize cheques by celebrities. By the late 1930s, there were also around 20,000 workers, mainly female checkers, employed in the industry. Littlewoods, with half the workforce, published The Littlewood's Review, to create loyalty to a paternalistic company as a means of controlling industrial relations geared to the perceived needs of the growing market.
