Today's Tidbit... Football, Gambling, and Punch Boards

Gambling has a longstanding relationship with football. While the level of betting on football today would make our Puritan ancestors blush the deepest red, and a player or three faced suspensions for associating with gamblers, gambling has historically been low-key, seldom rising above the level of Super Bowl office pools.

We don’t often see horse manure on the garage floor anymore, and a form of gambling that is now seldom seen is the punch board. Once popular at corner taverns, many displayed risqué images of young women, while others capitalized on baseball or football themes.

4.5 x 5.5-inch Football, Train Hard For A Touchdown Punch Board

The first punch boards were homemade, with sheets of paper pasted over the front and back of a wooden box. They filled one sheet of paper with circles or squares, and behind each was a hole or slot containing a rolled-up piece of paper listing a prize of no, minor, or reasonable value. After paying a penny, nickel, dime, or quarter, the player used a nail to punch through one of the holes, pushing the coiled paper out of its slot and allowing it to fall out the back of the punch board to reveal the patron's prize. Later, simpler versions were cardboard punch-outs, but the principle was the same.