About the small gamblers, what they say may make you smile (8)

I believe the answer is:

punsters

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'what they say may make you smile' is the definition.
The definition suggests an adverb but the answer is not.

'about the small gamblers' is the wordplay.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'gamblers' becomes 'punters' (punter is a kind of gambler).
's' inserted inside 'punters' is 'PUNSTERS'.

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I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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