Betting, or punting as it’s sometimes known, in the UK is big business, and that’s thanks in large part to the number of betting shops (bookies) that line the streets of every city and town in the UK. There’s no doubt that football and horse racing are the most lucrative sports for the bookies, and the variety of bets that are available for a single game or race are pretty amazing.
If you fancy a punt on a football match, then you can select everything from final score, to first goal scorer, to the exact minute when that first goal goes in. Those bets become even more elaborate when major competitions like the World Cup roll around.
The same applies to horse racing, and if you have never set foot inside a betting shop in the UK, then you really don’t know what you are missing. There are odds and past performances pinned to the walls around the shop, all organized by track or event. Look around and you’ll see a bunch of punters hunched over, studying the odds with a tiny little pencil stuck behind their ears for when they are ready to fill out their betting slip.
There’s the yelling and screaming of the bettors who already have money riding on a race, getting fired up as their horse comes barrelling round the final turn. Some of the older shops feel like buildings lost in time, the scent of old cigarettes hanging in the air, and burned into the walls of the place, but it’s all part of the great British gambling tradition.
The Brits also love their pub slots, and there are plenty of those to be found here at Llanbikefest, so why not have a punt on one of our classic 3 reel slot games.