It works if you believe that it works! A great deal of information can be had about a person by close examination of the hands; doctors do it all the time.
However, you must remember that "fortune telling", that is,foretelling the future, is a criminal offence.
I believe palm reading gives you insight on a person's soul, and through assumption, you can "predict" their future. I personally prefer the term "divination" over "fortune telling" though.
It is charging money for fortune telling that is a criminal offence. A few pennies is okay, but people have been cheated of vast sums of money by fortune tellers! It is this that becomes criminal, and the penalties are severe in the USA and most of Europe.
You may "predict" the future as a bit of fun.
But nobody can forecast the future. Nobody!
It is not against the law in the United States, but I am unsure of the laws in the United Kingdom. It's a service and generally labeled "for entertainment only" for legality purposes. They cannot claim that it is truth without possible law suits and BBB intervention.
Do not confuse "fortune telling" with "future telling". Divination is not truly meant to tell the future, it is meant to read your past and present in relation to what it may mean for your future. It's the same thought as, "you have been going straight, you are continuing to go straight, and if you keep going straight, you will fall off a cliff". If a cliff is in front of you, then it only makes sense.
I agree with the entertainment angle, such as Fairgrounds and Carnivals. It becomes dangerous when a person might be told "You are going to be involved in a car crash." or "Somebody close to you is about to die.". Yes, future telling; that is the danger.
The laws in the US on businesses vary from state to state and sometimes judicial area to judicial area. The simplest way around these laws or restrictions is usually to provide a disclaimer that your services are "for entertainment purposes only".
This however is not always a guarantee that what services you provide is legal. I personally live in an area that is not only a dry township which means no alcohol can be sold within the township but we also have laws against gambling. It is illegal for any games of chance to be played. There are no carnivals held within our township lines and we are not even allowed to have bingo night for charitable purposes, ie raise money for the local fire department. To keep businesses to a minimum there are also laws limiting what kind of business you may run. Many of the laws are based around keeping the area rural and for farming purposes. There are also no convenient stores within my township due to the gambling, tobacco and other sales restrictions my township has.
