Source : Perth Now news
Punters are flocking to pubs offering Anzac Day two-up gambling, with queues snaking around the block of inner-Sydney pubs hosting the gambling tradition out on the street.
Footage from the Sydney suburb of Paddington posted online on Saturday shows hundreds of people lining up before 10am to get into The London, two hours before play could start.
Venue crowd-monitoring platform Bondi Lines says turnout to Sydney pubs is breaking records this Anzac Day.
“Clovelly Hotel’s queue stretched almost to the beach by 8.45am, the longest line ever recorded at the venue on open,” Bondi Lines co-founder Callum Weatherall said.
“But if there’s one venue that took the cake today, it’s The London in Paddington, where a massive queue carved through the streets of Paddington by 8.42am for the pub’s first year hosting street two-up.
“We’ve never seen anything like The London this morning.
“Clovelly is always wild but this was something else. Both venues absolutely delivered.”
Footage from Bondi Lines also shows monster queues at the Clock Hotel in Surry Hills, and The Bellevue just a few blocks from The London.
Essentially illegal across the country except on Anzac Day, the traditional gambling game of tossing two coins and betting on how they land is a staple of Australia’s April 25 tradition.
Several venues across Sydney are experiencing lines around the block, hours before the traditional game begins.
There’s evidence the game was played by convicts in the 18th and 19th centuries, but popularised by officers during the First World War, it became an increasingly popular pastime for men in the trenches.
While Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT, NT and most of WA outlaw the game 364 days of the year, there is more latitude in Victoria and NSW.
In NSW, people can play and bet on the coins on Anzac Day, Victory in the Pacific Day on August 15, and Remembrance Day on November 11 after midday.
In Victoria the game is legal in the seven days leading up to Anzac Day, but must only be played in an approved RSL sub-branch or a venue approved by RSL Victoria.
The WA mining town of Kalgoorlie is year-round open slather though because of its historic connection to the game, as is the town of Broken Hill in NSW which holds a special licence.
