In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, a betting shop is a shop away from a racecourse ("off-course") where one can legally place bets in person with a licensed bookmaker. Most shops are part of chains including William Hill, Ladbrokes, or Coral. In Australia and New Zealand, they are operated by totalisator agencies In the United States post PASPA, brands like DraftKings, FanDuel and William Hill have a presence. Betting shops include America's Betshop and Betfred. Scale In 2016, there were around 9,000 betting shops located in the UK. The number of shops grew rapidly in the 21st century. One street in Newham has the largest number of bookmakers concentrated in one place: 18 on the street and about 80 in a local zone. However in 2020, during the coronavirus crisis, many betting shops closed permanently. Legislation Off-course betting was illegal until the Betting and Gaming Act 1960 was introduced, although bets could be placed at a racecourse ("on-course") on any event, not just the races being held at that course. Credit betting by post or telephone was legal because of a loophole in the law of "resorting to a house for the purpose of betting" was taken to mean physically resorting to the house rather than simply communicating with someone there. Gambling in the United Kingdom is common and not regarded necessarily as a vice but a "little flutter on the gee-gees", but there are strict controls on where and how a bet can be placed (they may not be placed in pubs, for example). The Gambling Act 2005 covers those controls, and the Gambling Commission oversees them. Until 2005, it was illegal to advertise on the outside of the shop any offer of odds, and most had blank windows. The Gambling Act 2005 relaxed the rules a little, but most betting shops still have covered windows much like sex shops; it is illegal to allow people from outside to see inside. Facilities At a betting shop, typically there will be noticeboards listing the racing form for the day's horse racing from trade issues of the Racing Post or a similar equestrian publication. Most betting shops now offer free tea and coffee to attract punters. They usually have large televisions covering all the events, like an American sports bar. Until 1986 they were not allowed to have live broadcast coverage but the bookmaker often had a small