Bets and Frauds
In the nineteenth century, John Gully and William Crockford were rival Bookmakers. Gully's career was as remarkable as Crockford's.
He was put into Fleet Prison for not paying a debt, but bought out again by Henry Pearce, prize-fighting champion of England, who noticed Gully's fine physique and saw in him a worthy crowd-pulling opponent.
Gully and Crockford featured in 1844 Derby scandal, the most notorious case of a 'ringer'. They owned the two favorites, and while public form suggested that Crockford's horse, Ratan, was the better, Gully persisted in backing the horse, The Ugly Buck.
It seemed evil work might be afoot, particularly when it was discovered that the son of Crockford's trainer had also backed The Ugly Buck with Gully.
In the event, Ratan was found to be doped, but both Crockford and Gully were out swindled by an audacious trickster, Goodman Levy, or Abraham Levi Goodman. Levy owned a 2-year old called Running Rein and a 3-year old called Maccabeus.
By constantly switching their stables, he managed to confuse their identities.
When Running Rein won a 2-year old race in 1843, after Levy had backed him from 10-1 to 3-1, many judges thought him to be the best developed 2-year old they had ever seen, and the Duke of Rutland, who owned the second horse, objected to him.
It could not be proved that the horse was not Running Rein, and Levy collected his money.
However, Lord George Bentnick was convinced that Running rein was really Maccabeus, and during the winter he collected evidence to support his view. Levy, meanwhile, had given Running Rein to Alexander Wood of Epsom in payment for corn.
Running Rein ran in his name in the Derby and Levy backed it to win 50,000 pounds, and won.
There was a pandemonium, bookmakers refused to pay; instead of leading in his winner, Mr. Wood went home to bed. Colonel Peel, the owner of the second horse objected, and the Stewards withheld the stakes pending an inquiry.
A more recent example of bookmaker biting bookmaker occurred in the 1950s, although no shady business was involved.
The firm of William Hill specialized in asking punters, through newspaper advertisements, to name the first four in certain races, and paid out to the few lucky winners a handsome dividend, calculated by multiplying the odds.
The firm of Shermans decided to run a similar advertisement. Calling hundreds of employees together, Hills gave them a pound each and asked them to back the same horses to finish in the same order.
Of course, had the result been correct, Shermans would have faced a mammoth payout, so they had to cancel the bets, place an ignominious notice to this effect in The Sporting Life and return all stakes.