Two fat ladies at the seaside: gambling in working class holidays 1920-1970

Downs, C

Abstract

Gambling was a popular and pervasive leisure pursuit long before it was legalised in January 1961. The most prevalent forms of gambling amongst the working classes were the football pools, illegal off-course cash betting and greyhound racing; all of which were predominantly male pastimes. This paper explores the role of gambling amongst women during their annual seaside holidays and highlights the role of seaside arcades and bingo games in familiarising women with gambling, creating a ready market for the first commercial bingo halls which opened within a few days of the passing of the Betting and Gaming Act (1960)

Citation

Downs, C. (2011). Two fat ladies at the seaside: gambling in working class holidays 1920-1970. In R. Snape, & D. Smith (Eds.), Recording Leisure Lives: Holidays and Tourism in 20th Century Britain (51-73). Leisure Studies

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2011
• Deposit Date: Oct 5, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Pages: 51-73
• Book Title: Recording Leisure Lives: Holidays and Tourism in 20th Century Britain
• ISBN: 978-1-905369-23-2
• Keywords: Gambling, Seaside, bingo, women, social history