Origin of terms
Heard a story years back, and have NEVER found out if it was factual....Maybe some others here can substantiate it or not.
In the days when bookies were the only betting mechanism on track, they used to pay only for "straight" win bets...Later, as they expanded their scope, they began to pay for PLACE (at first, the Euro concept that lumped together 2nd and 3rd) and finally show.
I wondered, and as it was explained to me, where the terms "place," and 'show" came from. After a race, the bookies would display the "straight" payout on their chalk boards, but then SEPARATELY would PLACE another notification elsewhere and then finally a THIRD notation was held up to the assembled crowd and SHOWED to those who had used that bookie's service....
If anyone has an alternative explanation, that would be appreciated.
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"If this world is all about winners, what's for the losers?" Jr. Bonner: "Well somebody's got to hold the horses Ace."
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