Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK gambling) to secure money.

1848

Era (London) 4 June 4/2: You got the tin all right, and bottled every mag.

2. to collect money from a busker’s audience; thus bottling n.

c.1921		T. Norman Penny Showman 60: The greater the number of persons attending the show, the more he got for himself by Bottling (collecting) inside.
1935		X. Petulengro Romany Life 231: Charlie twanged the harp and I sang and did the bottling, which is the word for going round with the little sea-shell the buskers use as a collection-box.
1989		in G. Tremlett Little Legs 171: I’d take the hat round, which is what we call ‘bottling’.