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Was it really all those years ago, days when tills in betting shops were non existent, days when your betting slip was stamped by a number and you would get a little bookies docket back with the same number, as your receipt.
Then the bookies graduated to doing carbon copies, yet they still stamped the betting slip and copy with a hand held numbering machine. One of the cpoies used to go into a clockbag and when the race went 'off' , this clockbag, full of copies, was locked into a specially designed clock.
The clock used to have six spaces, one space for each race of the meeting originally, but then, as extra race meetings were put on, the need for more clocks and clockbags became necessary. Each bag had a metallic strip with small matching holes in it.These holes would align with each other when the user closed the bag, then the bag was slotted into the first space in the clock when the first race started.The user would then push a bar device, in the clock, through this space securing the clockbag in place. This act of pushing the bar also caused a special piece of timed paper , inside the clock, to be marked at the time of this action - the 'off time'. This was basically to prove that all bets inside this bag were in time for the race and not late bets.
These were the days before 'off slips','tills', and ' cameras'. Even before the advent of betting offices, there were bookmakers, (on the street corners ), so to speak. These bookmakers had bookies runners. It was their job to take the bets and bring them to the bookie who would settle them and check his money. Any winnings would be given to the bookies runner to pay out and he took more bets and so on. The trouble with this, as far as the bookie was concerned, was that some of the 'runners' would try and diddle the bookie. So the clockbag came into existence, to try and stop the late bet - someone backing winners after they have already won.
The clockbag ! --- Was it safe ? Was it any good ? I suppose in the days of street corner bookies and bookies runners it offered some protection against cheating. But later betting offices were legalised and the betting industry expanded. Loads of different bookmakers opened up shops , always as nowadays, trying to outdo each other by offering higher limits on bets and so on. Initially, individual bookmakers didn't bother too much with security, as they ran the shop themselves. But some of them were determined to expand and had to employ other staff, that is people they did not know, so the clockbag was there to be used , and its' use became the norm'.
Unfortunately for them, the clockbag, although giving some form of security in betting shops to staff and owners alike, was not reliable. Every morning the clocks had to be set --- the special timed paper fitted in, wound up, correct time set --- and then they were sealed. The clocks, with six clockbags for each, would be sent to every shop in the company. The amount of both was determined by the amount of race meetings each day. Usually there were only six races at a meeting, so if three meetings were on then three clocks and eighteen clockbags were sent out to each shop. A lot of work ? -- Yes, but it was to get worse. Dog racing was also gambled on, so clocks had to be sent for these as well. Dog meetings at that time, usually had eight races, and sometimes there weren't enough clocks or clockbags to go around all the shops. The system for clocking the bets 'off' had changed from using one particular clock for one meeting, to just clocking the bets 'off' as and when the next race started, regardless of which meeting it was, in time order, throughout the afternoon.
So, to counteract the shortage of clocks and clockbags, the owners would instruct the shop staff to 'put races off together'. Confusing ?
Not really, because if two races were due off at the same time, say 3-15 p.m., then as long as the actual time of the 'off' of one and maybe the 'under orders' of another was within a few seconds, then no more bets were taken on both races and they were both clocked off. That was the theory and more often than not it worked. But sometimes there were hiccups. The intervals between the races were too big and we still had to clock off two or even three together because of lack of clock spaces. This was where the fun started. People still wanted bets on, but the races were deemed 'off', and if their bet had been a loser they were happy, but they weren't very happy if their bet on the winner was refused.It caused terrible arguments between punters and staff, and staff turnover became horrendous.
Of course, there was always the other side of the coin. Betting shop owners suspected some staff of deliberately holding back the 'off' of a race until it was over -- especially in dog races because they were over so quickly.
They would check their clocks and bets taken, and anything suspiciousthey would try and clamp down on. A good example of this was an incident in Liverpool, where a shop manager was suspected of 'late' betting -- by delaying the off of most races by a minute or a little over. Bets on dogs were being won regularly in the shop -- very much more than normal, and being a quiet shop, it became a liability.
So this particular day, Dave, one of our office managers and John R, one of the owners' friends, waited outside the shop -- one in a phonebox across the road, the other by the shop door. On a signal from head officethat a race was 'off', then both went into the premisesafter about forty seconds, and sure enough, the man was caught red-handed.
When it went to court though,it was thrown out ,as most of these cases were then -- because the method of security was proven unreliable. The reason -- 'a clock, being a clock, loses or gains time'. The said clocks were tested and tested and were so inconsistent, the firm were advised to change their system. We found that most of the clocks used in the business were inaccurate, but I suppose they served their purpose for quite a long time.
Eventually they were replaced by more modern methods, however, the company I worked for W.J.Connor in Liverpool tried a box type clock for a few years first, before they succumbed to the use of tills and cameras. Mind you, Mr Bill Connor was firmly of the old school. He started out his business with the clockbag as a bookmaker before betting shops came into existence. One of his friends at that time tried to persuade him to forget about horses and start doing football bets. They were both in the same game. Mr Connor was not too keen on just doing football, so he stuck to his horses while his friend, a Mr John Moores went on to found Littlewoods Pools and was later knighted.
Bill Connor didn't do so badly though, rather well in fact.Both he and his son Mr Les Connor built a very profitable concern with over fifty betting offices in the Liverpool area. They later amalgamated with another firm, Forbes Bookmakers in Liverpool, and called it Marybone Racing. They went onto the stock market with the company and amassed a sizeable fortune for that time. The two Mr Connors sold out some or maybe all their shares and went on to form other companies. Bill Connor started another betting firm -- Grandstand Racing, while Les Connor went into merchant banking.
I know that Mr Les Forbes left the running of the company, Marybone, to his sons Ian and Paul and it grew also, with more amalgamations and takeovers, to become today the betting company Stanley Racing and Stanley Leisure.
That is not a bad outcome from the security of a little clockbag. I wonder, how many of you remember any of this, or any other little clockbag stories.
Do you have anything to discuss pertaining to betting, or experiences in betting shops or gambling in general ?
Do you have any interesting stories to share? Some history of the betting industry? Any funny incidents? Stories of outings to the races? Ever had a huge return for a very small outlay?
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