Are there betting shops in America?

No it’s a pretty big cultural difference especially between the working classes. Keeping Up Appearances and The Royal Family both captured the British working class man betting on a few horses really well. I’m sure there are plenty of gambling addicts but I get the impression it’s the male equivalent of going to bingo. The men have a “budget” and it’s a way to pass down time and be social. Women don’t go into betting shops but they go to bingo.

In the US gambling is Vegas, old mob guys with pinky rings and monogrammed jackets, old ladies on slot machines or an addiction. Not at all part of the general culture and there’s very few online bookmakers. The NFL is not backed at all the way the English premier league is.

I've only seen Ladbroke's in the US. There seems to be a casino in ever city in California, They are allowed on All Native American reservation owned property, Some are huge and beautiful especially in Washington. state and Connecticut.

Betting is considered deeply tacky in the USA.

^Yes.

I skipped an interview to back Ma’s Mouth!

Casino is really addictive. The U.K. is trying to clamp down now on online bookmakers and they have introduced lots of measures to help problem gamblers. You can self exclude from bookmakers, every site has a link to GA, you can set limits on your account, after gambling X amount they will ask you for proof of income and bank statements. That all came about when it went online and there’s now a blackjack table and roulette wheel on the homepage along with the horses and soccer. And of course a full casino available on the site. People are more likely to chase losses in the casino than on horses and the whole set up from graphics to music is designed to get people addicted. I was a matched bettor when I lived in the U.K. and made £25,000 tax free. Easiest money I ever made, it was like printing money. I think it’s got harder now as the bookmakers are under pressure to stop the generous offers so as not to encourage gambling.

I say that to show that casino is very risky and while some people go to Vegas for a fun weekend and move on you can get sucked in real quick and lose everything. For that reason in the US it’s seen on the same level as drug taking with a few exceptions. In the U.K. every second man has an Acca on the weekend soccer games. Pretty harmless, you can’t really chase losses, the stakes are low and if one comes in a few times a year you can about cover your stakes. On the other hand casinos are rare there aren’t they? I don’t recall seeing one and as far as I know high street bookmaker shops didn’t have casino games. No alcohol in bookmakers either!

Oh interesting. Had t thought of all the casinos in the US. In fairness the casino side is another animal alright. No we don’t have an any casinos here and funny enough they would be seen as tacky and dangerous, like if your father started going into a casino the family would be in a panic but a bookie is just like going to a pub in terms of social acceptability. Def a class issue though, you won’t see middle or upper class people in the bookie.

Mad too that people don’t bet on the NFL or can’t or whatever. It’s unusual for the US to be leaving money on the table! One of our bookies had 3 billion revenue last year alone.

I suppose horse racing isn’t as big there but I’ve heard of the Kentucky Derby and Belmont. Who bets on those or are they even bet on at all? Without betting shops maybe you’d have to be physically present at the racecourse.

Oh interesting. Had t thought of all the casinos in the US. In fairness the casino side is another animal alright. No we don’t have an any casinos here and funny enough they would be seen as tacky and dangerous, like if your father started going into a casino the family would be in a panic but a bookie is just like going to a pub in terms of social acceptability. Def a class issue though, you won’t see middle or upper class people in the bookie.

Mad too that people don’t bet on the NFL or can’t or whatever. It’s unusual for the US to be leaving money on the table! One of our bookies had 3 billion revenue last year alone.

I suppose horse racing isn’t as big there but I’ve heard of the Kentucky Derby and Belmont. Who bets on those or are they even bet on at all? Without betting shops maybe you’d have to be physically present at the racecourse.

New York has OTB (Off Track Betting) parlors.

Funny you should say that because I heard more about the Kentucky Derby from Brits than I ever heard in the States. Actually, I don’t believe I ever heard a word about it or any racing event. I was being paid so much less in the U.K. and needed a side hustle but my visa was restricted so I discovered matched betting and was introduced to the whole horse racing world in the U.K. The horses themselves are household names too which is nice. Big Bucks was the big star back then. I used to love sitting down on a Saturday afternoon in front of a coal fire watching the ITV racing. Do you go into bookmakers yourself? I never felt comfortable doing that as it was a very straight, male place and I felt like I wouldn’t fit in and it would be awkward. Even the local women in the office said they would never walk into a bookmakers but they still had some knowledge of horse racing and would have tips for Cheltenham and Ascot. There were loads of women doing matched betting though because it’s online.

Jump racing would probably be cancelled here by animal rights activists. I just cannot ever see a day when we’d have 4 hours of jump racing on network tv. It would also take a big cultural shift for companies to be profitable here and there would need to be changes in the law to allow them to open their sites to Americans.

People do bet on the NFL and NBA. Also March Madness (the college basketball championships). It's a big thing, but it's often done through private betting pools. You can also bet on sports at casinos.

There are a lot of casinos in the US, and I think that's where most legal betting happens. You're right that horse racing is not as big a deal here nowadays, although you can bet on those, too, at casinos. Before the proliferation of casinos, betting on the horses at the racetrack was popular here, too.

There used to be a lot of illegal gambling, everything from private poker games to numbers rackets to bookie joints (mostly operating by phone rather than in person and mostly centered around horse racing) to "casinos" operating behind the facade of a nightclub. The widespread availability of casinos has diminished all that.

Americans like to gamble as much as anyone; it's just that most betting, except at the racetrack, used to be illegal except in Nevada, where it was done in casinos. That set the pattern for casino-based gambling.

And, of course, there's the lottery ...

R10 I would in my hometown because I’d know all the lads there. I’ve been going in with my father since I was about 5. Online is handier for me these days. I wouldn’t feel out of place walking into a strange bookie to place a bet but I wouldn’t hang around for the afternoon, no.

Would it be fair to say there might be a “class” issue in the US too regarding casinos? Are there certain types who’d never be seen in a casino?

Of course we have lotto and scratch cards too and we have lotto at the bookies! That brings a lot of women in, especially in small towns though it’s true that overall women are in the minority and there can be a bit of a sexist idea that anything other than bingo and lotto is too complicated and a man’s pursuit. Used to be a sort of humble brag for men to say “she doesn’t understand it but as she knows how to spend it”.

Interesting. I had no idea.

I would say yes there’s a class divide about casinos. Regional divide too. I’m very working class but my family had no interest in casinos and the nearest one was about 60 miles anyway. Never even knew it was there until I was an adult. I think the majority of upper middle class Americans think casinos and indeed Las Vegas itself is tacky and low rent. A few years ago Vegas was becoming a bit of a foodie scene with hot new luxury hotels that had no casino but I remember colleagues would stress that they were not going to gamble! The Indian casino closest to me has all you can eat buffet, early bird specials and concerts by the likes of Donnie and Marie and Michael Bolton. You can get their target market!

“The States” = non-U

[quote] I think the majority of upper middle class Americans think casinos and indeed Las Vegas itself is tacky and low rent.

R13, in general, that's true, although there's a subset of affluent people who will happily gamble in the casino in a upscale resort area, especially if they're abroad.

Middle class people do go to casinos if they're on vacation in a place that has them, but the type of casino R13 describes draws a downscale and often older crowd. (I'm talking about openly going to a casino as a pleasure/pastime. There are gambling addicts, who will bet on anything and who will haunt any casino they haven't been barred from, among all social classes, just as there are alcoholics, drug addicts, etc.)

The rich do whatever the hell they want, and some of them gamble heavily, but probably not at places that feature Donnie and Marie and all-you-can-eat buffets.

“Don’t go there, you will lose” 😉

[quote] Would it be fair to say there might be a “class” issue in the US too regarding casinos? Are there certain types who’d never be seen in a casino?

Middle-class people might do it once in a great while for a lark, but it is considered really tacky.