THE TOTALISATOR.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19202, 7 January 1928, Page 16

THE TOTALISATOR.

CONTROVERSY IX BRITAIN THE AGA KHAVS OPINIONS. ;FFOM otT. OWN CORRESPONDENT.' LONDON. November '2'j.

Mr Churchill lias made the announcement that if next session a private member's iiill authorising the establishment of totalisator machines on racecourses obtains a second reading on a tree vote of the House of Commons, the Government will endeavour to provide facilities ior its passage into iaiv. Controversy on the s'lbjeet still continues "Sporting Life'' is opposed 10 the totalisator. This journal quotes 31 r Edgar Wallace, who says that the introduction of the machine to assist racing would be similar to '"trying to cure a patient of typhoid by inoculating him with scarlet fever.'' "It passes comprehension,' 1 says Life.'' '•that a tax of i- 1 per cent, on all staked bets on tho course lmvinc done so much injury to racing, advocates of a cure should tight for a tax of at least 10 per cent., by means of the totalisator. There is a lot of talk about a half of the amount raised through the totalisator being sot apart for racing improvement and for premiums to breeders, another i'i per cent, to go to the racecourse executives, and for the Government to take the remaining 2\ per cent. "We have a right" to ask. tho assumption being general by those who ■advocate the 'tote,' what is the authority for thus apportioning the 'r.oto' deductions: J The Treasury have made no gesture approving of such a division, and those who cherish the view that the Government would be content with a mere 2o per- cent, of the total percentages of tho stakes would probably find they had been living in a fool's paradise if and when the mnchino is installed on our courses."

The Aga Khan's Views. The Aga Khan, writing to 'The. Times." says the only satisfactory plan is that under which all money invested at starting price and on the racecourse would be invested in tho totalisator.

■ "This scheme has given riso to much controversial writing, and it may be that, in vievv of opposition from bookmakers and interested parties, Parliament will not be prepared to make so far-reaching a change immediately, though it is ultimately inevitable. J suggest, as a second-best way, that at least stay-at-home people and itartingprice backers all over tho country should have the choice of putting their money into the central totalisator; in other words, that if Parliament does not compel, it will permit general adoption of this method.

'The reform whicli the Jockey Club has accepted in principle will nob take us far on the road to more satisfactory racing conditions if the totalisator is limited to backers on the spot, whica means a very small proportion indeed of the hacking public. That public would soon learn to appreciato a system under which payment would be assured, and a better price would he obtained in the long run. The respectable bookmakers, whose conservatism is behind most of the objections raised, would gain in the end, as they wonlrl cet a better chance of laying off. There can ha no doubt that oppor-

amity to use the totalizator irrespective of presence on the course would be of advantage both to the startingprice backer and to racegoer—to the latter because, anions other reasons, the administrators of the course would pet a share of the proceeds, enabling them to improve the accommodation and facilities for the general public/'