Dictionary of Gambling by John S. Salak

A dictionary for the language of horse racing, dice and cards, bookmakers and runners, touts and tote boards, a colorful but expensive language to learn first-hand from the natives.

Excerpt from the preface:

The invitation to compile a Dictionary of Gambling was an intriguing one. One we wouldn’t turn down on a bet, so to speak. Here was a subject which just about everyone, to some degree, was acquainted with and one which, in the sober reflection of a depleted bankroll, just about everyone, to some degree, realized they just didn’t know enough about. It should prove to be, if not a guarantee to increase your winnings (or lessen your losses) an odds-on favorite choice to be a popular guide and foster a fallacious belief that now you know what gambling is all about. Help you pick winners, it does not. Help you understand how you lost (or why you will lose if you do gamble) it might.

1st edition 1963, 284 pages; PDF 270 pages.