Football Pool

A football pool, often collectively referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of top-level association football matches taking place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, with the potential to win huge money. Entries were traditionally entered through the post or via collector agents. Collectors would have a specific area in which they walked door to door collecting entries; traditionally these collectors were paid a set share of every ticket they sold. The traditional and most famous game entered was the ‘Treble Chance’, now branded the ‘Classic Pools’ game. Players must pick eight football games from the weekend’s fixtures that finish as a score draw of 2-2 or greater to win the whole or a share of the £3 million Top Prize. Players can win large cash prizes in a variety of other ways, based on a points-based scoring system.

Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters are the most famous pools companies. Littlewoods was the first company to provide pools, selling them outside Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground in 1923. Famous winners are Rodi Woodcock, £2,072,220, in 1991, the first double millionaire, and Michael Elliott, £3,001,511 in 2010, the highest jackpot winner. Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters were brought together in 2007 by Sportech PLC under the brand ‘The New Football Pools’, now known as ‘The Football Pools’. They offer other small stake, high prize games such as Premier 10 and Jackpot 12. The Football Pools companies have traditionally been charitable, donating over £1.1 billion to sports-related causes.