Runners working for bookmakers would collect bets in clock bags. The introduction of special excursion trains meant that all classes of society could attend the new racecourses opening across the country. įollowing the Gaming Act 1845, the only gambling allowed in the United Kingdom was at race tracks.
The first bookmaker in the United Kingdom is considered to be Harry Ogden, who opened a business in the 1790s, although similar activities had existed in other forms earlier in the eighteenth century.
Main article: Gambling in the United Kingdom
