subs. phr. (common).—1. A stock-gambling den carried on in opposition to regular exchange business; usually of a more than doubtful character: cf. BUCKET = to cheat.
1887. Daily News, 14 April, 7, 1. Mr. Charles Fisher said that he carried on business as an agent … He did Stock Exchange business, for clients. Mr. Besley: Commonly called a BUCKET SHOP, I think.
1888. Missouri Republican, Feb. 12. New York, Feb. 11.—(Special).—Inspector Brynes was seized with another spasm of indignation against the BUCKET-SHOPS this morning, and, accompanied by detectives and a squad of officers, he swooped down upon the lairs of these enemies of the Stock Exchange that abound on Lower Broadway and New Street.
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Nov. 12, 3, 1. The tape is credited with fostering gambling. Well, we know that there are BUCKET-SHOPS, but we have for some time refused to entertain any proposal for a machine if there is the least prospect of its being used for BUCKET-SHOP purposes. There is gambling, of course, but it is unfair to say that the tape is responsible for it. The tape was not originated for that purpose, but in order to inform the public, through the newspapers or otherwise, how securities were going, and it does that. In practice it serves as a check between client and broker, and broker and jobber.
18[?]. New York World. Wall Street and its vicinity did not contain a single ‘square and honest’ BUCKET-SHOP; all their dealings were nothing but ‘a brace gambling game.’ By their schemes the customer had ‘not the ghost of a chance to win.’ Their quotations were obtained surreptitiously, and, in handling them, the BUCKET-SHOP keepers in several ways take unfair advantage of their clients.
2. (American).—A low groggy; a lottery office; a gambling den, etc.
