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Unlike like many countries which have a tote system of betting, the United Kingdom has a long history of independent bookmakers often called turf accountants. In fact, bookmakers are far from a modern creation dating back to the 17^th century.

It is said that a gentleman called Harry Ogden was the first bookmaker in the UK standing at Newmarket racecourse in Suffolk.

One of the major changes to bookmakers came when the 1960 Betting and Gaming Act was passed which legalised betting shops as previously betting was only allowed on course. In the 1970 there were more than 15,000 brick-and-mortar betting shops in the UK. The numbers has gradually decreased since 2014. With the introduction on online apps the number of betting shops in 2022 was just over 6,000.

But which bookmakers have the longest history in the United Kingdom?

The earliest bookmaker which still exists today is Ladbrokes who was founded in 1886 by Messr Schwind and Pennington at Ladbroke Hall, Worcester.

Corals was established in 1926 by Joe Coral. It has merged with many companies and now part of the Entain Group which owns several other brands.

Next oldest is William Hill which dates back to 1934, founded by William Hill. Now one of the largest bookmakers in the country.

Betfred is a familiar name on the Highs Street and was founded by Fred Done and his brother Peter in Salford. While established in 1967 it isn’t as old as some but has a rich history and become a prominent betting company in the UK.

Bookmakers have been a part of the UK since the 17^th century and probably long before that if truth be known. The changing picture of the gambling area can often take a paradigm shift as seen with new laws & technological advancements as seen with betting exchanges and online platforms. As there is so much money within the gambling industry, there is always the likelihood of much change regarding cutting-edge technology.

How time flies? It seems like it was only yesterday that we were watching favourite Corach Rambler win the biggest spectacle in the racing calendar, the Grand National, and yet here we are again now trying to decide who is likely to claim the 2024 title. 150,000 race goers will be on course, and millions tunes in at home waiting for find out just that.

We can of course start with the obvious, since Lucinda Russell’s Corach Rambler is once again favourite to win the Grand National, and this time at shorter odds of 4-1 in the horse racing betting markets. Last years result was Russell’s second National win, and if she can make it a third she’ll be the first woman to have done so – trailblazer Jenny Pitman had two Grand National wins under her belt. It’s certainly hard to deny Corach Ramlber’s credentials. With an impressive 7 wins from 16 starts – for a horse that cost just £17000 – and placing a very respectable third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, it sets the stage for a big performance and justifies the current odds.

A Grand National victory is taken though rather than given away, and that’s as true in 2024 as any year, so we can expect tough opposition. Current second favourite is I Am Maximus at 7-1. The Willie Mullins trained and JP McManus owned horse won the Irish Grand National just last year and had a magnificent performance in Bobbyjo Chase. The trainer-owner pairing pair also have Meetingofthewaters in the mix at 10-1. With it likely to be soft ground at Aintree, that may well factor in too with those known for their stamina having an eye on grinding out a win. Kitty’s Light is also an interesting one at 14-1, and is entered into the Scottish Grand National too. That would be quite some double. Other is the mix include Mahler Mission, Noble Yeats and Vanillier.

As with every year, there’s a lot of unknowns in the run up and even the race itself (jumping 30 fences tends to result in that!) and Lady Luck can also play a central role at times. Having a wager always keeps things interesting though, and so good luck whoever you’re betting on!

History records that, on March 29, 1947, at a fog-bound Aintree, Caughoo, trained by Herbert McDowell and ridden by Edward ‘Eddie’ Dempsey, won the Grand National by 20 lengths at odds of 100/1. That victory, in itself, was unlikely enough, but also served to spark a controversy that would not be resolved for another five decades or more.

For whatever reason, Daniel McCann, who rode the eventual distant second, Lough Conn, accused Dempsey of hiding Caughoo in dense fog near the twelfth fence (which becomes the twenty-eighth, or third-last, fence on the second circuit) and only re-joining the race when the field passed for a second time. It may have been that McCann truly believed that Caughoo could not have completed the entire course so quickly – his winning time was a respectable 10 minutes and 3.8 seconds – on the prevailing heavy going. Whatever his motivation, a physical altercation and legal action followed before Dempsey was finally absolved of any wrongdoing.

Nevertheless, doubts lingered and Dempsey did himself no favours when, well into his retirement, he claimed to have hidden Caughoo not in the fog, but behind a ‘haystack’ (of which there were none at Aintree that day), during a newspaper interview. Meath-born Dempsey died in 1989, but a decade later the ‘Irish Mirror’ revealed that it had in its possession still photographs of Caughoo clearing Becher’s Brook (which is the sixth and twenty-second fence on the National Course) on two separate occasions. It’s therefore safe to say that Caughoo did complete the course and, despite protestations to the contrary, was, in fact, a perfectly legitimate winner of the Grand National; exactly what McCann was playing at is anyone’s guess.