ABSTRACT
Hostility towards the pools continued after the Second World until the 1960s, driven on by the Lynskey scandal, concerning Shermans entertaining government officials to gain an increased supply of paper for their coupons, and the Attlee Labour government (1945–1950) imposition of the punitive Pool Betting Tax. Yet attitudes began to change. The Royal Commission on Betting, Lotteries and Gaming (1949–1951) maintained the view that there should be as little interference in the freedom of the individual to gamble as possible and gradually even the religious opposition to the football pools faded in the 1950s as the Football League came to an understanding with the pool companies whereby, they would be paid royalties on the football fixtures. Charitable organisations began to use football pools to raise money, as did Labour Party and Conservative Party constituency branches. The 1960 Betting and Gaming Act endorsed this change of attitude by allowing cash gambling, as did the Royal Commission on Gambling (1976–1978) in its support for a national lottery. The government issue now was the control pool gambling rather than its abolition. However, liberalisation of gambling raised the prospect of the introduction of a national lottery which Littlewoods recognised would be fatal for the football pools.
