The Pools Coupon
Eight score draws and you never worked again.
A coupon collected from the door each week, filled in with a biro, and checked against the teleprinter on Saturday teatime.
Littlewoods and Vernons ran an operation that employed thousands of women in Liverpool checking coupons by hand. The whole country stopped at five o'clock for the classified results.
The perm systems people used were elaborate, superstitious and passed down through families. The National Lottery eventually killed it, but for forty years the pools were the only realistic route out.
Cost back then
A shilling a week
Goes for now
Original coupons £5–£15
