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Younger players targeted as football pools relaunched
The football pools, for decades the nation's best hope of making a quick million, has been relaunched.
The game, which originated in Manchester in 1923 and at its peak was played by a third of the population, saw its popularity plummet after the advent of the National Lottery.
The New Football Pools allows players to guess the results of Premiership and European games, and to play online and in betting shops.
Sportech, the company behind the pools, hopes to attract a younger breed of football fan and tap into the popularity of fantasy football games.
Chief executive Ian Penrose said the appeal to many would be "bragging rights" over their work colleagues. "The pools is an iconic national institution and we have made it relevant to all, easy to play and engaging," he said. By the 1960s pools had 14 million weekly players and every Saturday families and work syndicates would match their predictions to the results of the weekend's fixtures. Famous winners include Viv Nicholson, from Castleford, who promised to "spend, spend, spend", her miner husband Keith's 150,000 prize money in 1961. Worth 2.2m today, she blew half in a year on high living.
Ex Liverpool and Scotland defender Alan Hansen, who will sit on a panel of pundits offering online advice to pools players, recalled the game from his childhood. "The line from my mum when you asked for something was always 'when I win the pools' or 'if I win the pools'."
Three ex-professionals, goalkeeper Gordon Banks, striker Roger Hunt and Scotland international Tony Green remain on the pools panel which meet to predict the outcome of any postponed fixtures.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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