BUCKETSHOP  , a

slang financial term for the office or business of an inferior class of stockbroker, who is not a member of an official exchange and conducts speculative operations for his clients, who deposit a margin or cover . The operations consist, as a rule, of a simple bet or wager between the broker and client, no pretence of an actual purchase or sale being attempted . The term is sometimes, though loosely and wrongfully, applied to all stockbrokers who are not members of the recognized local exchange . The origin of the word is American . According to the New English Dictionary it is supposed to have arisen in Chicago . The Board of Trade there forbade dealings in " options " in grain of less than 5000 bushels . An " Open Board of Trade " or unauthorized exchange was opened, for the purpose of small gamblers, in a neighbouring street below the rooms of the Board of Trade . The lift used by members of the Board of Trade would be sent down to bring up from the open Board what was known as a " bucketful " of the smaller speculators, when business was slack .