1925 - Vernons’ Pool Kicks Off

Vernons betslip from 1936. Image Credits twitter @footballmemorys

Littlewoods’ colossal success inspires many others, including Manchester department store owner Vernon Sangster, who comes up with a rival football pool. He partners with George Randall Kennerley – a Wirral-based businessman, to create Vernons’ Pools in Liverpool. Littlewoods continues to targets the working man’s pennies every week in exchange for prize money. Meanwhile, this North West-based company follows suit, but would soon decide to take a different route altogether by employing agents who would make house calls to collect the pennies. Pool betting is all set to get more convenient.