AMPRICO was located in London at Amprico House, South Harrow, Middlesex and first appeared around 1932 in national and local newspapers as 'proprietors of The Alpha Trade Exchange Coupons' advertising a lottery/gaming scheme relying on the recruitment of agents who earned a 'liberal commission & bonus' based on ticket sales.  Tickets offered a chance of winning 'large prizes of household and fancy goods, clock, watches and cutlery as illustrated in their 212 page wonder catalogue profusely illustrated in colour', (as advertised in John Bull magazine, October 1933).

Tickets were based on selecting 3 jockeys from a list of 60 that 'would achieve the highest number of aggregate points during the period of the card'. Alternatively the tickets 'named football teams likely to score the highest number of aggregate goals'. The number of possible permutations on a racing ticket exceeded 200,000.
AMPRICO's activities led to prosecutions and fines by several local police forces under The Betting and Lotteries Act 1934 and The Ready Money Football Betting Act 1920.  Convictions at Hatherleigh, Devon and Marlborough were later overturned following an appeal by AMPRICO.  The successful appeal at Marlborough was based on 'the fact that people could choose between teams listed on the ticket and those they selected and that this represented an element of skill'.  However, after further brushes with the law the company was wound up in 1937 and finally struck off the Register in 1949.

Little information is available relating to the company and its owners, the only names quoted in the newspaper cuttings were Peter Carson (Managing Director), Montague Cowen (Director) and also Herbert Glazbrook, proprietor of the Broadway Printing Company, Hammersmith, responsible for printing the gaming cards for AMPRICO and other lottery/gaming 'businesses'.
During the late 1930s through to the mid 1940s numerous individuals/businesses were actively selling 'sweepstake' and 'lottery' betting cards, many being prosecuted by local police forces.  The appearance of football coupons and the legalisation in 1960 of off-course ready money gambling in licensed premises i.e. betting shops, led to the eventual demise of illegal betting activities run by the likes of AMPRICO.