Our Story

The Pioneers of Football Pools

The Football Pools is the oldest Football gaming company in the world. Founded in 1923, The Football Pools has always been a core part of the British Football weekend, since the first Football Pools coupons were distributed to football fans outside Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground.

The Football Pools has since gone from strength to strength. In 2009 Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters Football Pool companies came together to form The Football Pools, offering customers even bigger prizes. During the last 87 years The Football Pools are proud to have paid out over £3 Billion in prize money to 60 Million lucky winners.

Today The Football Pools is still a core part of the football fans weekly experience, with over 600,000 players every week and prizes of up to £3 Million to be won. In March 2010 we celebrated our biggest ever Football Pools pay out, when top prizes of £4 million were won on a single weekend.

We’ve donated over £1.1 Billion to Good Causes

The Football Pools have donated over £1.1billion to sporting good causes. Quite simply the more you play with us the more we can help develop football related good causes at the grass-roots level. During 2009/10 football season we donated a further £6 million to football initiatives including:

• Every Player Counts
• Premier League Health
• Fit for Football, Fit for Life

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics named Banks the second best goalkeeper of the 20th century – after Lev Yashin (1st) and ahead of Dino Zoff (3rd)

Every Player Counts Awards

This year Gordon Banks, OBE (England’s greatest ever football goalkeeper), will be presenting honors to the winners of The Football League Trusts Every Player Counts Awards. Banks was a member of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup. In March 2004 Pelé listed Banks as one of the 125 greatest living footballers. The awards will take place at the Grassroots Live Football Show at The NEC, Birmingham on Sunday 27th May 2012. In previous years the Awards have proved to be one of the most popular events at the show.

There will be a variety of Community Schemes from The Football League showcasing throughout the day starting at 10:00 – 12:00 with a Power Chair tournament. The Every Player Counts Awards will then take place at 12:00 - 12.45 with more Football League schemes showcasing a selection of activities during the afternoon.

Dawn Primarolo (MP ), Peter Scudamore (Chief Executive of the Premier League ), Ian Penrose (Chief Executive of Sportech PLC, owners of The Football Pools) and George Cohen (England World Cup winner in 1966) at the launch of Premier League Health at Fulham’s Craven Cottage ground.

Premier League Health - £1.6 million donated

The Football Pools has partnered The Premier League to launch the Premier League Health scheme donating over £1.6 million to help tackle a range of men’s health issues including testicular cancer, depression and alcoholism. The scheme is now in action at 16 Premier league clubs across the UK and has prompted £0.9Million to be raised by clubs in additional funding.

David Longmuir (Scottish Football League Chief Executive) and Jon Sheehy (Marketing Director at The Football Pools) at the launch of Fit for Football, Fit for Life at Hampden Park stadium.

Fit for Football, Fit for Life - £1 million donated

The Football Pools has partnered The Scottish Football League to launch the Fit for Football, Fit for Life scheme donating £1 million to help tackle serious health issues for young people cross 30 Scottish Football League clubs. Initiatives to improve the participating communities include heart screening, alcohol awareness training as well as defibrillators being available pitch-side at all 30 participating football clubs.

Company Details

The Football Pools Limited is registered as a limited liability company in England and Wales, company number 2884057. The registered office of The Football Pools Limited is:

Football Pools Limited
Walton House
55 Charnock Road
Walton
Liverpool, L67 1AA

Footballpools.com is licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission (licence number: 000-001689-R-104110-001) for more information visit www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk.

Our Proud History

The Football Pools has enjoyed some iconic moments during its last 87 years. Here are some of the highlights. Click on a date to find out more.

• 2010: First Ever Pools Triple Millionaire is Revealed

  

  BRITAIN'S first-ever £3Million individual Pools winner was announced by The Football Pools in October.

  In the 87-year history of the Pools, it is the first time that a single winner has scooped a record payout in excess of £3Million.

  Lucky winner Michael Elliott, from Brechin, in Scotland wrote himself into the history books by spending just a couple of pounds and today he was presented with a cheque for £3,001, 511 from The Football Pools by Michelle Robbins, Head of Marketing Communications.

  Mr Elliott said: "I cannot believe it. It is a dream come true. To say this is a life-changing experience, would be the understatement of the year.

  "I have played the Pools for many years and have won three times before although my biggest previous win was £32. We are still in a state of shock and it’s going to take a little time before everything finally sinks in."

  A keen golfer and fishermen, Mr Elliott is planning to spend some of his winnings on a bigger boat to go fishing in the Scottish lochs.

  The Football Pools offer a significantly expanded range of games for players. Many take advantage of the increased number of midweek games which are now played.

  Earlier in the year, a then-record £3Million payout was shared by 14 players and Mr John Proudlove also won £1Million.

  The first ever Pools double Millionaire was Rodi Woodcock, of South London, who scooped £2Million in 1991. Nursing sister Margaret Francis and 10 of her colleagues from Devizes became the first Pools 'Millionaires' in 1986 - sharing a £1,017,890 pay-out. Now Mr Elliott has written himself into the record books with his £3Million pay-out.

• 2010: Sportech Acquires SGR for £51.4 Million

  

  In October 2010, Sportech PLC completed the £51.4 million acquisition of Scientific Games Racing ("SGR") from Scientific Games Corporation, elevating Sportech to the position of one of the world's leading suppliers and operators of pools betting. With a focus on the world's two largest betting sports, football and horseracing, the enlarged Sportech Group has representation in over 30 countries, processing over $13 billion of bets every year.

  As part of the deal Scientific Games Corporation, one of the world's leading lottery providers, and Playtech, one of the world's leading online gaming providers, both became significant shareholders in the enlarged Sportech Group.

• 2010: The Biggest Ever Pools Payout of £4 million

  

  In March 2010 we celebrated the biggest every Football Pools top prize payout with a £4 million paid out in a single weekend. One lucky customer turned a 71 pence stake into a £1 million prize.

• 2008: The Football Pools go Online

  

  As part of the continued modernisation of The Football Pools customers were now able to play the Classic Pools game, as well as a whole host of new games including Premier 10, online 24/7.

• 2008: Football League Partnerships

  The Football Pools is very proud of its long term relationship with football at all levels and in 2008 signed a partnership to become an official licensee of the Premier League and Football League and an Official Partner of the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League. The relationship with the Football Leagues led to donation of over £6 million over 3 years to develop grass roots community schemes at over 100 clubs across the UK

• 2007: Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters form The Football Pools

  

  Sportech PLC, owners and operators of Littlewoods and Zetters Pools companies, acquires Vernons to form The New Football Pools. Bringing together the 3 main UK Football Pools companies enabled even bigger prizes to be available for Pools players everywhere.

• 1994: The 2nd Biggest Ever Pools Payout of £2.9 million

  

  The famous Yew Tree Pub syndicate in Manchester scoop as massive £2.9 million of The Football Pools making this the second biggest Pools payout of all time.

• 1991: The Pools continued commitment to good causes

  

  The Foundation for the Sports and Arts is formed by the major Football Pools companies, continuing their long term commitment to charitable causes. To date The Football Pools has generated over £1.1 billion for good causes and donated over £6 million in 2009/10 season for football related good causes.

• 1986: The first Pools Millionaires

  

  Nursing Sister Margaret Francis and 10 of her colleagues from Devizes, Wiltshire, becames the first pools millionaires sharing £1,017,890.

• 1963: The Pools Panel are formed

  

  During the icy winter of 1963 over 30 matches were cancelled in 4 consecutive weeks causing a huge disruption to the football season. These unique series of events led to the formation of the world famous Pools Panel in order to predict what the results would have been based on previous form and statistics. The Pools Panel has always consisted of household names, with Tom Finney and Arthur Ellis on the very first Pools Panel, and today World Cup winners Gordon Banks and Roger Hunt sit alongside Tony Green every week to give their forecast.

• 1957: Pools Collectors Hit the Streets

  

  This was the year that the very first Football Pools Collectors were introduced, visiting Football Pools customers homes every week to collect their coupons. This special customer relationship is something that many people still remember to this day. Today we are very proud to have over 7,000 Football Pools Collectors who visit our customers directly.

• 1939: The Pools supports the war effort

  

  During the Second World War The Football Pools were committed to helping the national cause and gave the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, freedom to use The Football Pools processing warehouses and their staff for important tasks including making parachutes for our soldiers.

• 1933: Zetters founded

  

  Zetters Pools Company is founded.

• 1925: Vernons Pools founded

  

  Vernons Pools Company is founded.

• 1923: Littlewoods Pools are Founded

  

  Littlewoods Pools Company is founded by Sir John Moores with the first Pools coupons being sold to football fans outside Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground.