Animal Gambling

An extract from the book 40 Humourous British Traditions

Before the days of casinos and one-armed bandits in pubs, people found many different ways to gamble. People would sometimes bet on two flies crawling up a wall; if someone’s wall was missing they’d bet on the number of raindrops falling on someone’s hat in their front room or the number of leaves that blew in from the surrounding garden.

In the Forest of Dean the locals hit upon a novel method of satisfying their gambling habit – use animals in a number of games and contests.

Snail racing was a particular favourite, especially with the heavy drinkers. People would place a bet on their selected snail and then go to the pub for four hours before returning to the snail course to see the climax of the one yard race.