Charles McNeil revolutionised betting during the 19th century with his introduction of point-spread betting for football games – an innovation which proved so successful it led to him leaving his job at a Chicago bank!
Other notable betting moments include the 1919 World Series scandal involving Chicago White Sox players being paid to lose for gamblers, raising serious concerns over sports and league integrity.
Henry VIII
Henry VIII enjoyed various forms of sport, particularly jousting and hunting. Additionally, he enjoyed gambling by playing cards, dice and tables, similar to backgammon.
Henry VI enjoyed an exceptionally successful rule, providing stability to the monarchy while reforming government bureaucracy and taxation systems, and welcoming Renaissance art and literature into England. Unfortunately for Henry, however, he failed to produce any male heirs.
Henry II had two unsuccessful marriages to Catherine of Aragon that failed to produce any children; so Henry married Anne Boleyn – widow of his brother Henry VIII – hoping she would produce his heir. Unfortunately for Henry, Anne did not prove herself worthy and was executed in 1536.
Catherine Howard was his fifth and final wife – she first caught his attention as one of his maid-in-waitings, before eventually falling deeply in love with him and eventually beheading herself in 1542. A popular doggerel states: ‘Henry VIII married six wives; one died, two divorced, two were beheaded!
William Hill
William Hill rose to the top of the betting industry through hard work and dedication, eventually going public and listing it on the London Stock Exchange in 1954 – marking an important transition away from illegal bookmaking to an organized industry with regulations in place.
Hill pioneered fixed odds betting coupons and was one of the first to accept bets via telephone. Additionally, he championed responsible gambling through self-exclusion programs and spending limits.
No surprise there; he opposed legalizing high street bookmakers as he saw them as an unnecessary cancer on society. At heart a socialist, his concerns related to how bookies would impact workers – although despite all this success and reputation as a bookmaker.
Barney Curley
Barney Curley was an innovative gambler who orchestrated one of the greatest betting coups ever seen. His remarkable triumph on Yellow Sam (starting odds 20-1) required meticulous planning by several accomplices and perfectly timed phone calls between them and Curley himself to secure.
Curley grew up in an ordinary Irish family and managed to escape an intense bout of tuberculosis that forced him into hospital for one year. To pay back his debts from childhood debts incurred by his father’s business dealings he worked double shifts at a plastics factory before venturing into horse racing as an adult.
After losing his teenage son in a road accident, Curley devoted himself to charitable endeavours in later years. Through Direct Aid for Africa (DAFA), he raised millions for schools and hospitals in Zambia through this charity. Townsend believes that it takes certain types of people in order to succeed at gambling despite common perceptions otherwise.
Yellow Sam
Barney Curley pulled off one of the most infamous betting coups ever by placing Yellow Sam, his slow but steady runner, into a National Hunt race at Bellewstown that included amateur jockeys. Curley then gave Liam Brennan specific instructions regarding an obscure event where Yellow Sam would start at 20-1 odds.
Curley devised a plan in which he and his associates would place relatively small bets at the starting price in hundreds of betting shops throughout Ireland shortly before races started, using Bellewstown’s private telephone line occupied for half an hour by someone pretending they needed to reach a sick relative; this ensured on-course bookmakers couldn’t contact off-course bookies in order to force odds lower.