Stooping - Pick Up Betting Slips At Race Tracks: Ways To Make Money

[jeffrey]

When people make bets at the race track, they sometimes mistakenly think they have lost and throw away their ticket. "Stoopers" pick up hundreds of these discared tickets, go through them and cash in the winning tickets. There is enough money to make a living doing this according to a New York Times article

"Mr. Leonardo, who is married with two teenagers, is hardly living on the fringes. He said that stooping brings him $100 to $300 a day, and more than $45,000 a year. Last month, he cashed in a winning ticket from bets made on races at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., for $8,040. His largest purse came in 2006, when he received $9,500 from a Pick 4 wager (choosing the winners of four consecutive races) at Retama Park Race Track in Selma, Tex."

[GrimJack]

I remember reading about a guy who modified his shoes to snag those betting slips without bending over; back in the 40s I think, with 'the mob' and gangsters hanging around, he could not be as upfront about it. He was a tout that hung around the track making money on all the little bits of entropy involved in the movement of money at the tracks. I did not realize that racetracks were popular enough any more.

[junosama]

Pretty interesting read, i heard some homeless people can make a lot more than you think each day as well. People make big money turning in cans and bottles to those machines as well.

[GrimJack]

Scrap aluminum is $.60 per pound and there are 32 coke cans in a pound; glass and plastic are worthless. Many states have deposit laws which run about 5-10 cents each - no one individual is going to get rich recycling. Even on recycling days when all the law-abiding citizens put their stuff out in bins.

Pan-handlers can make more than I think mostly because I don't think they make much. The buskers, on the other hand, can probably make out pretty well but what are the human costs of being homeless?

[cptacek]

Interesting, I didn't know that there are 32 cans in a pound!

[CalireEHughes]

I've actually heard a story of a guy who makes a full time living doing just this! He also digs through the trash for thrown out slips and cashes them in if he finds a winner. I think he was making around 80k a year doing this!!