LESS SPENT ON SOCCER POOLS £5-10 m Drop Expected

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29983, 19 November 1962, Page 18

LESS SPENT ON SOCCER POOLS £5-10 m Drop Expected

(Special Crspdt. N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, November 16,

Investment in soccer pools, which reached its peak of more than £lOO millions two years ago is declining, says the “Daddy Telegraph.” Promoters expect to end the current season between £5 million and £lO million down on last year. “In the first 14 years of the football season punters have continued to show ‘flutter’ resistance.

‘‘Only the magic draw of a few six-figure jackpot dividends in the next few weeks is calculated to bring back the millions in stakes which the pools promoting firms are losing to other gambling attractions.’’ In the 1960-61 soccer season the grand total of income to major pools reached the record level of just under £lO4 million. This figure dropped to £B3 million during 1961-62.

“It is estimated that there are still four out of every five families in the country involved in the weekly flutter on the pools, but there is good reason to believe the actual number of investors is declining,” says the newspaper report.

■‘So is the total of dividends paid to lucky punters, and much more significantly the proportion of stakes paid back in the form of winnings. At the same time, the percentage taken off by promoters’ expenses is steadily rising.

“Betting shops, fixed odds, betting on football matches, premium bond draws and bingo are rivail attractions to the golden flow of pools stakes, which themselves are subject to 33 per cent tax.

‘‘Dividend winners this season can expect to receive back something like 8s for every £1 staked. Taxation will take 6s 7d in the £ and promoters’ commission and expenses should account for the remaining 5s 5d.”