1920s Bookie

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Runners clocks like this were used in bookies from the 1920s until the 1960s.

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These two are both good but the male dancer is outstanding. He never moves his shoulders compared to what his feet and knees are doing. This pianist is. The bookie never loses, so they say - if Comer realised he wasn't going to do well at the races he would make off before punters came to collect their winnings. He also ran a con game called Take your Pick where people paid to pull a straw - but rarely won. Comer saw himself as a protector for Jewish shopkeepers but charged them for the privilege.

At that time, the only way to place a bet on the horses or dogs was by either placing it on the racetrack, or with a bookmaker.

A ‘clock’ was a stopwatch in a solid steel case and one, or two, very stout canvass bags with concertina metal openings that could be locked to the case with a sharp snap. The betting slips were put in the bag before the start of the race, the bag was locked in and this started one of the stopwatches.

1940s Boogie Woogie

The clock, when full, was then taken by a 'runner' to the bookmaker’s office and exchanged for another. The bookmaker, who had the only key, could then unlock the clock and check that bets had been placed before the start of races.

In the 1960s, when the gambling act came into force, this type of betting became illegal and runners clocks were no longer used.

You can read about the experiences of a Black Country bookies runner on the Quarry Bank History site

1920s

1940s Bookends

Year: 1930

Ref: 1978/068/001

Theme: Domestic and Cultural Life

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the number runners that worked for organized crime in the 20's and 30's. During this time the Mafia and other gangs controlled a lottery like game which was called the numbers.
The people who worked for the numbers racket were called number runners. They collected the bets from the gamblers and delivered the payoff when the gamblers won. Sometimes, these number runners were said to be 'running numbers.'
the winning numbers were often determined by the final digits of the winning payoff results of horse races. It is also true that when you compare the numbers game which was an illegal lottery to today's legal state controlled lottery, it did offer higher payoffs.
But, the numbers runners were not bookies. A bookie is a person who takes illegal bets on horse racing or sporting events. Contrairy to what the Wikipedia says, these two professions were not combined because the numbers game and sports betting were usually controlled by different people. Also the bookies took bigger bets and looked down on the number runners who survived by taking many small bets; hence the terms 'numbers runner' and 'book maker' refer to different people.
Running numbers in a Bronx tale, any old gangster movie
1920s
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1920s Bookie

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