How the tote helped build football in Liverpool

One of the oldest forms of football betting, pool betting has existed for over 100 years. The concept is simple: all the entrants predict the outcomes from a coupon of matches, with their stakes being pooled together to form a prize pot. This is then split between the winning players who correctly predicted the games’ outcomes. 

These days the format has lost some popularity, with traditional fixed odds sports betting being the dominant way people back football results. You can still see some remnants of pools betting in predictor games, though. 

With these, players still need to get all the results correct to win a share of the prize. The main difference is that predictor games are usually free-to-enter marketing tools with a fixed pot, rather than paid competitions. 

Pools betting is based on the tote in horse racing, which shares the same concept. Unlike pools betting, the tote is still massively popular, with many sports betting sites still offering special a tote sign up offer. 

Also unlike the tote–which was invented in France and popularised across UK and Irish racing–football pools are firmly Liverpudlian. 

The Liverpool roots of football pools

Football pools were the brainchild of Birmingham man John Jervis Barnard, and first appeared in the city. However, the concept was popularised in Liverpool by John Moores. 

He was working as a messenger boy when he first heard about Barnard’s novel new pools game. Along with two friends, Moores rented a small office on Church Street to bring pools betting to the north. The trio used the name Littlewoods in order to hide the business from their employers, and the name is still synonymous with football pools to this day. 

The first season ran at a loss, causing Moores’ original partners to walk away. He was undeterred, however, and brought his brother Cecil in to keep going. Pools betting soon took off, turning Littlewoods into a true Liverpudlian success story. At one point, the business was even the most valuable private company in all of Europe. 

Unfortunately for Liverpool, John Moores was an Everton fan, and used his fortune to bankroll the club during the 1960s and 70s. However, when the next generation of the Moores family inherited the Littlewoods empire, it was Liverpool’s turn to benefit. 

Cecil Moores’ son David grew up as an ardent Liverpool fan. He became club chairman in 1991, and was instrumental in helping to navigate the difficult era after Kenny Dalglish’s departure as manager. David Moores helped the club rebuild, using the pools money to steer Liverpool towards their spell of cup success in the early 00s, including 2001’s cup treble and 2005’s unforgettable Champions League triumph. 

David Moores was one of the last of his kind of club owner, the local tycoon for whom owning his club was purely a labour of love. He was eventually forced to sell the club under contentious circumstances in 2007. Moores remained outspoken about the new owners’ approach, though, and even put himself into a 12-year exile from Anfield over how the sale unfolded. 

He returned in 2019, and was able to watch his beloved Liverpool claim their first league title in 30 years. 

How the tote works the same way

While the tote is very similar to the football pools that made the Moores family its fortune and helped bankroll Liverpool, there are still a few key differences. 

The biggest is that pools are always contested over a coupon of games. While this is still a popular way to play the tote with horses, there are also single race pools available. 

These work best for races with a big field and the chance of an upset, with Aintree’s Grand National a prime example. Single race totes are best for backing outsiders, with there usually being poor returns for backing the favourites compared to fixed odds betting. In a big race with plenty of outsiders that can spring a surprise, the tote remains one of the best ways to bet on the action.