Recreational betting: everyday activity and strategies

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Abstract
This paper analyses aggregate betting behaviour as revealed by data embodied in the betting slips of off-course betting shop punters. A large sample (9000) slips were collected from three Birmingham shops belonging to a large multiple bookmaking company. Data from the slips were processed by computer. The discussion reveals some of the behavioural and preferential patterns of betting shop punters as a basis for evaluating a number of assumptions derived from the sociology of gambling which have escaped careful evidential scrutiny. The discussion concludes that, on the whole, punters are indeed engaged in a primarily recreational activity whose economic consequences are very unlikely to be life-changing.

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