Vernons Football Pools

The football pools was conceived by John Jervis Barnard of Birmingham and popularised by John Moores. In the 1920’s with two friends, Colin Askham and Bill Hughes, they tried to market it outside Old Trafford, Manchester United’s football ground. Instant success did not come but perseverance payed off for John Moores. He bought the other partners out after they became disillusioned with the venture. Littlewoods Pools went on to make John Moores a millionaire. He went on to established the Littlewoods mail order catalogue empire after the pools success.
Littlewoods remained the pools top dog but competitors soon noticed the success and started their own coupons. Namely Vernons and Zetters,
Vernons was established in 1925 in Liverpool and Zetters was London based. Before the National Lottery the only way to win a massive windfall was the football pools. Pick your matches that will hopefully be score draws. Then wait for the results no need to pay the pools man at the door or fill in coupons its done online dead easy or download the Football Pools app.

The Lottery

With the arrival of the National Lottery in 1994 the gateway to winning a life changing sum of money was blown wide open. This signalled the end of the popular football pools route to a jackpot. Now the public could win big by choosing six numbers rather than rely on a football match result. If the lotto didn’t finish it off completely the rise of online gambling was the last straw for pushing the football pools out of mainstream betting.
Following the wane in popularity the National Lottery brought about. The three main pools companies were purchased by Sportech. Vernons pools, Littlewoods and Zetters were brought under the guidance of one company brand “The Football Pools” it was known as the new football pools. It was for small stakes and high prizes and incorporated other exciting games. The Football Pools also run the very popular “Spot The Ball” competition. This is where you try and guess the ball position that’s been removed from a football action photo. X marks the spot, the nearest cross to the ball wins. The new pools venture was launched online at www.footballpools.com in the summer of 2008.
In 2017 Sportech announced it would be selling the historic football pools business to FP Acquisitions. A company controlled by OpCapita, a private equity outfit. The sale was estimated to be for around £83 million. New UK gaming licences were granted to FP Acquisitions Limited. The Football Pools is still hanging in there and can be played online or by the app.