Editing Football pools (section)

=== 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to write to their [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]], which led to the proposals being withdrawn.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>