Plural of bookie: people who take bets on sports events or races and pay out winnings.
Short for 'bookmaker,' from 'book' (the ledger where bets are recorded) and 'maker.' The term emerged in the 19th century when betting became systematized and documented.
Bookies were originally called 'book makers' because they physically wrote down every bet in a book to keep track of who owed what—it's why we still call the record of a sports team's wins and losses their 'record book'!
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