Cash still reigns in the betting ring - but bookmakers are preparing for change

If there's one spot on God's green Earth where cash ought still to be king, the betting ring at any racecourse would be it. Here is a place made for the speedy transfer of wealth that is best achieved by handing over notes, while clinging to the hope of getting them back as part of a chunkier bundle in just a little while.

Regardless of the way things were moving in the wider world, the ring was not traditionally a friendly environment for anyone digging into their wallet and producing a meagre bit of plastic. Such behaviour was apt to be met with scorn or laughter.

Those old attitudes were finally swept away, along with so much else, in the spring of last year. Now, almost every bookie's joint features a little plastic box for the electronic transfer of funds; it is unloved and unused for most of the time but it may yet be the future.