Editing Football pools (section)

==In the United Kingdom==
=== Origins ===
Competitions for predicting the results of football matches are older than the [[English Football League|football league]] itself. The ''Cricket and Football Field'' newspaper, in its edition of 10 September 1887, offered a prize of one [[Guinea (coin)|guinea]] to "the Competitor who predicts the results" of four football matches to be played the following Saturday. Readers were invited to cut out and fill in a coupon printed in the newspaper, which had to be sent to the newspaper's offices by the Friday before the matches. If more than one "couponnier" predicted all four exact scores correctly, the prize would be shared between them. There was no charge for entry beyond postage; in fact readers were allowed to submit several coupons together, presumably in order to encourage them to purchase several copies of the newspaper.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Cricket and Football Field |date=10 September 1887|page=8 |title=Our Football Prize Competitions |location=Bolton |volume=vi |issue=155}}</ref> By 1910, ''[[The Umpire]]'' was offering a first prize of £300 for predicting six results.<ref name=DOF/>

In October 1922, [[John Moores (British businessman)|John Moores]], Colin Askham and Bill Hughes heard about John Jervis Barnard, a Birmingham man who had devised a 'football pool', where punters would bet on the outcome of football matches.<ref>{{cite book |first=Piers|last=Dudgeon |title=Our Liverpool: Memories of Life in Disappearing Britain|publisher=Hachette UK |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8KZHnZ2GOxQC&q=john+jervis+barnard&pg=PT72|isbn=978-0755364442}}</ref><ref name=RH/> The payouts to winners came from the 'pool' of money that was bet, less 10 per cent to cover "management costs". It had not been particularly successful and Barnard was struggling to make a profit. Hughes obtained one of Barnard's pools coupons; the three friends decided they could do it better and, on 1 February 1923, launched the Littlewood Football Pool (as it was originally known). A small office in Liverpool was rented and the first 4,000 coupons were distributed outside Manchester United's Old Trafford ground before one Saturday match that winter.<ref name="heritage" /> Moores handed the coupons out himself, helped by some young boys eager to earn a few pennies.

It was not an instant success, as just 35 coupons were returned. With bets totalling £4 7s 6d (£4.37½), the 10 per cent deducted did not cover the three men's expenses. The winning dividend paid out £2 12s 0d (£2.60).<ref name=gwr86/> They decided to print 10,000 coupons, and took them to Hull, where they were handed out before a big game. This time, only one coupon was returned. Midway through the 1924–25 football season the scheme was still losing money. The three young men had already invested £200 each, with no imminent prospect of things improving. Hughes suggested they cut their losses and forget the whole thing and Askham agreed. They expected Moores to concur, but instead he offered to return the £200 they had each invested in return for their shares, and they accepted. By 1930, Moores had become a millionaire from the competition.<ref name=RH>{{cite book |title=The Celebrated Pedestrian and Other Historical Curiosities|publisher=Random House |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HcI1AAAAQBAJ&q=john+jervis+barnard&pg=PA84|pages=84–85|isbn=978-1448142095}}</ref>

In April 1929, Moores was prosecuted under the Ready Money Football Betting Act 1920. Following a court appearance, he was convicted. However, as his company never accepted cash, only [[Postal orders of the United Kingdom|postal orders]] that were cashed after the football results and the winning payout had been confirmed, his appeal was upheld.{{Citation needed|date=March 2020}}

=== Growth ===
Vernons' Pools was founded in 1925, also in Liverpool, and Zetters was founded 1933 in London. In 1934, the Football Pool Promoters' Association was formed: besides Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters, its members were the other large pools companies including Cope's Pools (based in London), W.S. Murphy (Edinburgh) and Western Pools (Newport).<ref>{{cite book |first=Stephen G.|last=Jones|title=Sport, Politics and the Working Class: Organised Labour and Sport in Inter-war Britain|publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1992 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sSHpAAAAIAAJ&q=cope%27s+pools&pg=PA52|page=52|isbn=0719036801}}</ref> A report by the [[Lords Commissioners|Royal Commission]] at the time suggested that the football pools should be prohibited; the pools companies asked their customers to write to their [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]], which led to the proposals being withdrawn.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=The Sunday Times Illustrated History of Football|publisher=[[Reed International]] Books Ltd|date= 1995|isbn=1-85613-847-X|last1=Nawrat|first1=Chris|last2=Hutchings|first2=Steve}}</ref> The [[Betting and Lotteries Act 1934]] was passed on 27 March 1934 which included restrictions of pool betting. The football pools did not fall under gambling legislation (specifically the [[Betting and Gaming Act 1960]] and its predecessors) because they claimed to be competitions of skill, rather than chance; however, their rules typically stated that all transactions were "binding in honour only". Typically, between one-quarter and half of the entry fees taken would be returned to the players as prizes.

====Pools War====
In 1936, revenue from the 28 pools companies<ref name=Hansard2/> had reached almost £30 million per year,<ref name=DOF/> and the pools accounted for four million out of six million postal packets sent weekly in the UK.<ref name=Hansard2>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1936/apr/03/betting-no-1-bill|title=BETTING (No. 1) BILL.|date=3 April 1936|access-date=24 March 2020}}</ref> The [[English Football League]] was opposed to the betting and decided to withhold publication of their fixture lists in an attempt to thwart the pools companies' ability to print their coupons: games involving long journeys were announced on Thursday evening and others on Friday evening. The pools companies retaliated by printing coupons with just the home sides,<ref name=":0" /> then managed to obtain unofficial leaks of the fixtures and gave customers longer to get their coupons in. The "Pools War" ended on 9 March 1936 after two weekends where the fixture lists were not published early.<ref name=DOF/> A further attempt to ban the pools was proposed in Parliament at a similar time by [[R.J. Russell]] but the bill was defeated on 3 April 1936 by 287 votes to 24.<ref name=":0" />

Barnard continued to run his competition until 1938, when he sold to Cope's Pools of London.<ref name=RH/> Other pools companies included Brittens (founded 1946 in Leicester), Empire (based in Blackpool) and Sherman's Pools of Cardiff, which was absorbed by Littlewoods in 1961.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Generous+Sherman+brothers+should+not+be+forgotten;+Time+to+remember.-a080221051|title=Generous Sherman brothers should not be forgotten; Time to remember|work= South Wales Echo|date=19 November 2001|via=Free Online Library|access-date=12 February 2018| first=Dan | last = O'Neill}}</ref>

[[Dundee United]] set up a pools competition in 1956 to help fund ground improvements at [[Tannadice Park]].<ref name=DOF/> ''Taypools'', as their operation is known, became the model for dozens of other club-run pools and lotteries designed to help boost payrolls or build new stands.

====War years====
During [[World War II]], the [[General Post Office|Post Office]] refused to deliver the large number of coupons as they were not considered essential, so a Unity Pool organisation was created for the seven largest pools companies to produce joint coupons.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Hansard">{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1947/nov/18/football-pools-re-organisation|title=FOOTBALL POOLS (RE-ORGANISATION)|date=18 November 1947|website=Hansard|access-date=16 March 2020}}</ref>

====Treble Chance====
The Treble Chance game was inaugurated in 1946. Players were given a list of football matches set to take place over the coming week and attempted to pick a ''line'' of eight of them, whose results would be worth the most points by the scoring scheme; traditionally by crossing specific boxes on a printed coupon. A proportion of the players' combined entry fees was distributed as prizes among those whose entries achieved the highest scores. Prior to this the Penny Points and Penny Results were the most popular games. The Treble Chance offered a potential large jackpot at a time when no other form of [[gambling]] in the United Kingdom did. Some pools offered additional ways to win, based on scores of football matches at half-time, or football matches in which a particular number of goals were scored.

By 1947, pools revenue had increased to £70 million a year, with over 90% being spent with Littlewoods, Vernon's, Sherman's and Cope's. It accounted for almost 15 million postal packets each week through the post office.<ref name=Hansard/> By the 1950s, 100,000 people were working in the industry.<ref name=DOF>{{cite book|title=World Soccer The Dictionary of Football|publisher=[[Boxtree Ltd]]|date= 1999|pages=468|isbn=0-7522-2434-4|last1=Ballard|first1=John|last2=Suff|first2=Paul|title-link=World Soccer (magazine)}}</ref>

====Agreement with the Football League====
In July 1959, the [[High Court of Justice]] ruled that the Football League owned the copyright to their fixture lists and this led to a 10-year agreement between the pools companies and the English and [[Scottish Football League|Scottish Football]] Leagues, whereby the pools companies would pay the leagues 0.5% of the stakes received (or a minimum of £245,000 per year).<ref name=DOF/><ref name=":0" />

During the 1972-73 season, the deal between the Football League and the pools companies was extended for 13 years worth £23 million.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Sunday Times Illustrated History of Football|publisher=[[Reed International]] Books Ltd|date= 1995|page=179|isbn=1-85613-847-X|last1=Nawrat|first1=Chris|last2=Hutchings|first2=Steve}}</ref>

====Off-season====
With professional football not being played in the United Kingdom during the summer, Zetters introduced Australian pools, based on games played in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Zetters Group plc announces disposal of football pools business to Sportech plc|url=https://pressreleases.responsesource.com/news/15379/zetters-group-plc-announces-disposal-of-football-pools-business-to/|date=14 August 2002|access-date=25 March 2020}}</ref>

=== Mechanics ===
====Entries====
Entries were traditionally made by post, or via agents or collectors who received a percentage (usually 12.5%) of the money as a fee. Main collectors, who appointed the agents, delivered the forms and payments to a regional office, which were then dispatched to the companies' central offices. Legally the football pools collectors were agents of the entrants, not the pools company. Business for pools collectors was sustained by periodic canvassing, where company agents knocked on doors in an area of a town or housing estate. Many large factories had at least one employee, who as a sideline, collected coupons from fellow workers.

However, many players were unaware that British law left them at the mercy of unscrupulous collectors who took their money but did not submit the coupons. This was because the [[Gaming Act 1845]] made all forms of gambling a "debt of honour" which meant that any dispute about winnings was exempt from legal redress in a court of law. In 1995, a syndicate lost £2.3million when their collector stole their money and did not hand in their coupon. The group wanted to sue the Pools company but it made it clear it did not employ collectors, they were the punters' agents.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/student-jailed-for-cheating-pools-syndicate-1601089.html|title=Student jailed for cheating pools syndicate|date= 15 September 1995 |newspaper=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> The "debt of honour" exemption to taking legal action over unpaid winnings was eventually repealed in the [[Gambling Act 2005]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/contents|title=Gambling Act 2005|website=www.legislation.gov.uk|access-date=1 February 2020}}</ref>

A variety of football pools games are now played on the Internet. These include the classic pools game that traditionally includes a large number of fixtures, spanning the weekend. This is the same as the old Treble Chance which has been renamed and rebranded under new ownership. New pools game variants include Jackpot 12, Premier 10 and Soccer 6; these are all games in which the player must correctly predict ''home win'', ''draw'' or ''away win'' for 12, 10 and six (mainly [[Premier League]]) football matches.

====Scoring====
Scoring schemes have varied over the years. The current Classic Pools game, based on the old Treble Chance game, uses a scoring scheme which awards three points to score draws (matches where both team scored the same, strictly positive, number of goals), two points to no-score draws (matches where neither team scored a goal) and one point to both home wins (matches where the home team scored more goals than the away team) and away wins (matches where the away team scored more goals than the home team). The most famous historical scoring scheme differentiated between home wins and away wins, awarding one-and-a-half points for games resulting in away wins. A scoring scheme used for only one year, split score draws into two categories, awarding three points only for matches ending 1–1 and two and a half points for higher-scoring score draws.

The total score of each line would be calculated, up to a maximum of 24 points. The highest scoring line achieved by any player in that particular week's competition would be declared to be worth the top dividend, with a large proportion of the prize pool awarded to the players responsible for submitting the highest-scoring lines. Large football pools would award second and subsequent dividends, splitting smaller proportions of the prize pool among players who had submitted lines scoring nearly as many points; at its peak, the Littlewoods Treble Chance game would offer up to six dividends. During the northern hemisphere summer, when football leagues were not in operation in the United Kingdom, competitions were based on the results of football matches taking place in Australia.

As well as this scoring system, the current Classic Pools game has an available top prize of £3 million. In order to secure this £3 million prize, or a share of it, the punter must successfully guess the nine score draws (draws of 1–1 or higher) when these are the only score draws on the coupon.

The other pools games currently provided by The Football Pools are based on entrants predicting the outcome; of results, scores and events in a variety of matches; rather than the awarding of points. Therefore, with the exception of the Premier 10 game (which pays out a smaller dividend for 9/10 correct as well as 10/10 correct<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.footballpools.com/static/nextgen/pdfs/new/premier_10_rules.pdf
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418031430/http://www.footballpools.com/static/nextgen/pdfs/new/premier_10_rules.pdf
|archivedate=18 April 2012
|date=13 August 2011
|title=The Premier 10 Pool Rules 
}}</ref>), the other games can only be won if all predictions are correct – if they are not all correct then the prize money is rolled over.<ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.footballpools.com/static/nextgen/pdfs/new/head2headrules.pdf
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418045031/http://www.footballpools.com/static/nextgen/pdfs/new/head2headrules.pdf
|archivedate=18 April 2012
|date=1 August 2011
|title=The Head2Head Pool Rules
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.footballpools.com/static/nextgen/pdfs/new/Jackpot_12_rules.pdf
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418050506/http://www.footballpools.com/static/nextgen/pdfs/new/Jackpot_12_rules.pdf
|archivedate=18 April 2012
|date=6 August 2011
|title=Jackpot 12
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.footballpools.com/static/nextgen/pdfs/soccer4_rules.pdf
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418030642/http://www.footballpools.com/static/nextgen/pdfs/soccer4_rules.pdf
|archivedate=18 April 2012
|date=August 2011
|title=The Soccer 4 Pool Rules
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.footballpools.com/static/nextgen/pdfs/Super6RulesOnline.pdf
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417024404/http://www.footballpools.com/static/nextgen/pdfs/Super6RulesOnline.pdf
|archivedate=17 April 2012
|date=August 2011
|title=The Super 6 Pool Rules
}}</ref>

====Pools Panel==== <!-- Courtesy note: [[Pools Panel]] and [[Pools panel]] redirect here -->
Matches which were postponed would often have their results adjudicated, for the sake of the football pools results, by a board known as the Pools Panel which had been formed in January 1963 when many football matches were postponed due to the [[Big Freeze of 1963]], a particularly cold winter.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,438-1957625,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060105083236/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,438-1957625,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 January 2006|work=[[The Times]]|title=The Pools Panellist}}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Guardian]]|title=How was the pools panel created?|last1=Murray|first1=Scott|last2=Ingle|first2=Sean|last3=Dart|first3=James|date=8 December 2010|access-date=23 March 2014|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/dec/08/the-knowledge-pools-panel-creation}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wsc.co.uk/the-archive/95-Miscellaneous/2566-pools-unto-themselves|access-date=25 March 2014|last=Needham|first=Al|issue=193|date=March 2003|work=[[When Saturday Comes]]|title=Pools unto themselves}}</ref> Initially, it had five members: ex-footballers [[Ted Drake]], [[Tom Finney]], [[Tommy Lawton]] and [[George Young (Scottish footballer)|George Young]] and ex-referee [[Arthur Edward Ellis]].<ref name="birth">{{cite web|title=The Birth of the Pools Panel|url=https://www.footballpools.com/news/the-birth-of-the-pools-panel|website=The Football Pools|access-date=25 May 2017}}</ref><ref name="veil">{{cite news|work=[[The Independent]]|title=Almanack: Pools panel draw a veil|date=27 March 1994|access-date=23 March 2014|last=Baker|first=Andrew|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/almanack-pools-panel-draw-a-veil-1431838.html}}</ref> They predicted 7 draws, 8 away victories and 23 home victories on 23 January 1963 and their predictions were broadcast on television.<ref name=DOF/>

The members changed regularly and by 1969, when [[Raich Carter]] joined, the other members were [[Neil Franklin]], [[George Swindin]], [[Arthur Edward Ellis|Arthur Ellis]], [[Stan Mortensen]] and [[Ian McColl]], under the chairmanship of Sir [[Ronald Howe]].  They met in London's [[Connaught Rooms]].  It was rumoured that their remuneration was considerably in excess of the national wage of the time.<ref name="1969 Pools Panel">{{Cite book | last =Garrick | first =Frank | title =Raich Carter The Biography | year =2003 | publisher =SportsBooks Limited | isbn =1-899807-18-7 | page =218}}</ref>

By 1994, the panel members were Ellis, [[Gordon Banks]], [[Roger Hunt]], [[Tony Green (footballer)|Tony Green]] and [[Maurice Peston, Baron Peston|Maurice Peston]], and the panel was meeting at the [[London Hilton on Park Lane]].<ref name="veil" /> Other former members include [[Gerald Nabarro]] and [[Ronnie Simpson]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Culf|first1=Andrew|title=Pools firms hit by tidal wave of online betting|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/aug/27/digitalmedia.gambling|access-date=25 May 2017|work=The Guardian|date=27 August 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Dart|first1=James|title=Have any ex-players sat on the pools panel?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jan/11/theknowledge.sport|access-date=25 May 2017|work=The Guardian|date=11 January 2006}}</ref>

The panel meets in private session each Saturday from November to April.  Its decisions are released once all ongoing matches have entered half time, but before any final results are known.<ref name="veil" /> By 2016, there were only three members: Banks, Green and Hunt.<ref name="birth" />

After the death of Banks in February 2019 and Hunt's retirement from the panel, they were replaced by [[Ian Callaghan]] and [[David Sadler (footballer)|David Sadler]], with Green continuing as a member of the three-man panel.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|first=Richard|last=Foster|date=17 June 2020|title=The pools panel: three former players who never stopped in lockdown|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/the-agony-and-the-ecstasy/2020/jun/17/pools-panel-footballers-lockdown-premier-league-liverpool|accessdate=3 May 2022}}</ref>

==== Results ====
Until recently{{when|date=June 2014}}, pools results were published in most national newspapers a day or two after the Saturday on which the matches were played. Grids marking the points totals per game were sometimes published, against which a pools coupon could be aligned to read off the scores.

The BBC television programme ''[[Grandstand (BBC)|Grandstand]]'' used to broadcast the winning match numbers and any Pools Panel verdicts as part of its [[Final Score]] segment in the late afternoon. Pools news was also given out on the BBC radio programme ''[[Sports Report]]'' until May 2007.

With scores being read out on radio and television it was also common to relay the message "claims by telegram" for days when around eight score-draws occurred (and thus few players expected to achieve maximum points), through "claims by registered mail only" for days when rather more winners were expected, to "no claims" when there were likely to be so many claimants that the mail would have been overwhelmed.

With the arrival of internet-based pools games, the need for players to score their own coupons was removed. Automatic scoring and payout is now standard on all internet-based pools games.

====Winning====
Typically, a fraction of a penny would be charged for each line entered, though players often had the option to play each line at a higher stake and so receive a higher share of the pool should their line prove a winner. Accordingly, players would usually submit many different lines in a single entry. Popular ways to do this were "full perm" entries, where 10 (or 11, or more) matches were selected and every possible combination of eight matches selected from the total was entered as a single line. As there are C(10,8) = 45 ways to select eight matches from 10, the cost of such an entry was 45 times the cost of entering a single line. Note that the term "perm" was used despite the relevant mathematical operation being [[combination]] rather than [[permutation]], as the order in which the eight matches were selected was irrelevant. The pools companies, many daily newspapers and the sporting press also issued "plans", which were subsets of full perms: these enabled the punter to cover more matches for the same stake, with the proviso that even if eight draws were in the selections, they might not all be in a single line of the plan (but well designed plans could give a guarantee, such as 'if the plan hits eight draws it must win at least a third dividend').

The largest prizes would be awarded when only one line was entered scoring the maximum number of points; typically this would occur when only eight or nine matches ended in score draws, so only one player would have the line scoring the maximum. The odds for selecting 8 draws from 55 matches (if there are only 8 draws) for an all correct line is 1,217,566 to 1 against.<ref name=gwr86/> These biggest ''jackpot'' prizes could be several hundred thousand pounds, sometimes more than a million. Prizes depended on the number of players and the cost per line, which varied between pools companies and increased over the years. One large winner, [[Viv Nicholson]], gained notoriety by declaring she was going to "spend, spend, spend" after winning £152,319 in 1961. The story of her subsequent extravagance and eventual bankruptcy was eventually made into a [[Spend Spend Spend|musical]] named after her assertion.

At the other extreme, payouts of less than a pound were quite common, as lower dividends when many entries won. Most players could expect to receive at least one low payout if they played for long enough. The odds of winning were around 80 to 1.<ref name=gwr86/> 

In its current form, the Classic Pools game has a top prize of £3 million, separate to the pool prize that is given to the highest point scorer(s). In order to secure this £3 million prize, or a share of it, the punter must successfully guess the nine score draws (draws of 1–1 or higher) when these are the only score draws on the coupon.

With the arrival of the latest online pools games such as Premier 10 and Super 6, the overall pool size is less than the Classic Pools game, but the odds of winning a major prize are increased because fewer predictions are required to complete a coupon and, also, fewer individuals play each coupon.

===Historic wins===
In 1972, two people won approximately £1.5 million each on the state run Italian pools.<ref name=gwr86/> In September 1975, Miron Vieira de Sousa, from the city of [[Ivolândia]] in Brazil, won a prize of 22 million [[Brazilian cruzeiro (1967–1986)|Brazilian cruzeiro]]s ($2.5 million), considered at the time "the biggest prize in Loteca and in the world, in prediction contests".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/1995/4/30/cotidiano/10.html|title=Loteca deu a Miron terra, gado e dentes|newspaper=[[Folha de S.Paulo]]|last=Stycer|first=Mauricio|language=Portuguese}}</ref> In 1981, Tadeu Resende of [[Volta Redonda]] won $3,003,532 on the Brazilian football pools, Loteria Esportiva, the world's biggest gambling win at the time.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Guinness Book of Records 1982|last1=McWhiter|first1=Norris|author-link=Norris McWhirter|publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd|year=1981|isbn=0-85112-232-9|page=279}}</ref> In December 1993, the Italian pools saw their highest jackpot ever recorded with 34 billion lire (£14 million).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1993/12/06/toto-dopo-due-anni-record-montepremi.html|title=Toto, dopo due anni record montepremi|newspaper=[[la Repubblica]]|language=Italian|date=6 December 1993|page=39}}</ref> Some notable UK football pools winners:<ref name="heritage">{{cite web |url=http://community.footballpools.com/heritage/winners |title=Football Pools &#124; News & Predictions |publisher=Community.footballpools.com |access-date=2015-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927014403/http://community.footballpools.com/heritage/winners |archive-date=27 September 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Winner !! Amount || Notes
|-
| 1957 || Nellie McGrail, [[Stockport]] || £205,235<ref>"The Littlewoods Organisation", ''The Times'', 14 May 1958 p14</ref>
|-
| 1961 || Keith Nicholson, [[Castleford]] || £152,319 || husband of [[Viv Nicholson]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/celebrity-obituaries/11531195/Viv-Nicholson-pools-winner-obituary.html|title=Viv Nicholson, pools winner - obituary|website=The Telegraph}}</ref>
|-
| 1972 || Cyril Grimes, [[Liss (England)|Liss]], Hampshire || £512,683 || first win over £500,000
|-
| 1979 || Irene Powell, [[Port Talbot]] || £882,000 || first win over £750,000
|-
| 1985 || Patricia Samways, [[Dorchester, Dorset|Dorchester]]; Kevin Adams and 7 friends, [[Sunderland]]; George Pinnock, Colchester || £1,600,791 || first time three people had won over half a million pounds each<ref name=gwr86>{{cite book|title=The Guinness Book of Records 1987|last1=Russell|first1=Alan|publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd|year=1986|isbn=0-85112-439-9|page=253|url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessbookofre00ster/page/253/mode/2up?view=theater|access-date=March 7, 2024|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
|-
| 1986 || Syndicate of hospital workers from [[Roundway Hospital]] near [[Devizes]] || £1,017,890 || first million-pound win<ref name=gwr86/>
|-
| 1987 || Barry Dinsdale, [[Kingston upon Hull]] || £1,910,972
|-
| 1991 || Rodi Woodcock || £2,072,220 || first double-millionaire
|-
| 1993 || Judy Smith, [[Isle of Portland]] || £2,077,683.60 || highest UK win at that time
|-
| 1994 || Syndicate from the Yew Tree Inn pub in [[Worsley]], Greater Manchester || £2,924,622 || the inaugural weekend of the [[National Lottery (United Kingdom)|National Lottery]]
|-
| 2010 || colspan=3 | 14 players shared £3 million and one Zetters player scooped £1 million
|-
| 2010 || Michael Elliott, [[Brechin]] ||  £3,001,511 || the highest-ever jackpot, won by betting on eight 2–2 draws across Spain, Scotland and England
|-
| 2011 || colspan=3 | four winners won £3 million split four ways, each receiving £750,000
|}

===Other games===
Other games offered by football pools companies take the form of "8 homes", "4 draws", "5 aways" or the like, where lines consisting of a smaller number of matches are selected and a line is deemed to have won if all the selected matches result in home wins, away wins or draws (irrelevant of the size of the draw) respectively. The cost per line is generally higher; because these attract far fewer players, prizes are generally lower. Some football pools companies additionally organised [[lotteries]], [[betting]] on lottery results or [[spot the ball]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.footballpools.com/cust?action=GoSTB|title=Classic Pools &#124; MatchXtra &#124; Lucky Clover|publisher=Football Pools|access-date=2015-10-21|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629210523/http://www.footballpools.com/cust?action=GoSTB|archive-date=29 June 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref> competitions at various points.

In predicting "Homes and Aways", players typically mark more than, for example, eight homes (they might mark 13) and thus their stake increases by the mathematics of combinations. Each line is called a "perm" ("permutation") even though it is actually a mathematical ''[[combination]]'' not a permutation. It is also possible to reduce the number of perms by taking the most likely and marking them as "bankers" i.e. that they appear on every combination.

===Tax===
Companies organising football pools were heavily taxed; in 1991, the levy was reduced from 40% of turnover to 37½% of turnover.<ref>[http://freespace.virgin.net/old.whig/lotdoc01.htm#ENDBACK3 A Draft Submission to The Right Honourable Kenneth Clarke MP QC Her Majesty's Chancellor of the Exchequer with regard to the Taxing of such Lottery or Lotteries as may be Established Pursuant to The National Lottery Etc Act 1993] Sean Gadd, 1 March 1997 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050311093451/http://freespace.virgin.net/old.whig/lotdoc01.htm#ENDBACK3 |date=11 March 2005 }}</ref> Additionally, from 1975 on, 2½% of the entry fees went to form the [[Football Trust]] which distributed money to football throughout the UK, in particular to help clubs redevelop their stadiums in line with the recommendations made by the [[Taylor Report]].
The business was a reliable source of cash for the pools companies. Each week the money staked was received by the pools company, they deducted their costs, paid the tax, then deducted their profit. What  was left was then the prize money available to the winners.

===Charitable giving===
The Football Pools have donated over £1.1 billion to sporting-related causes. During the 2009/10 football season a further £6&nbsp;million was donated to football initiatives including the following<ref name="heritage" />
* The Every Player Counts scheme – to grow disability football provision across 44 Football League clubs in England and Wales and increase the opportunities for people with varying disabilities to access sports through their local Football Clubs
* The Premier League Health scheme – to help tackle a range of men’s health issues including testicular cancer, depression and alcoholism
* The Fit for Football, Fit for Life scheme – to help tackle serious health issues for young people across 30 Scottish Football League clubs

=== Decline ===
Competition from the [[National Lottery (United Kingdom)|National Lottery]] led to a rapid fall-off in players, from a peak of 10&nbsp;million in 1994 to 700,000 in 2007.<ref name="BPost">Birmingham Post, 19 March 2008 p25, "Football pools names disappear"</ref> Vernons closed its pools operation in February 1998, and ran a lucky-dip game called Easy Play with the National Lottery during the 1998–99 football season. It resumed its traditional business afterwards.

In 2000, Littlewoods Pools was sold for £161&nbsp;million. The company became part of Littlewoods Gaming, a division of [[Sportech]]. Sportech bought Zetters in 2002 and Vernons (which had previously been acquired by betting company [[Ladbrokes Coral|Ladbrokes]] in 1989) in 2007, and announced plans to rebrand the competition as The New Football Pools, launching online at footballpools.com during summer 2008.<ref name="BPost" /> The competition became known as The Football Pools<ref name="heritage" /> and provided classic football pools games alongside other pools variants, with coupons containing a smaller number of football matches. Sportech sold the business to private equity firm [[OpCapita]] in 2017.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/03/02/sportech-sell-historic-football-pools-business-83m Sportech to sell historic Football Pools business for £83m] The Telegraph 2 March 2017 {{subscription required}}</ref>

The Littlewoods Football Pools Collection, which records the history of the pools, is held by the [[National Football Museum]].