RACE BETTING

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21976, 28 December 1936, Page 6

RACE BETTING

TOTALISATOR FIGURES INCREASE RETURNS FOR BOXING DAY Evidence that money is being spent more freely this Christmas than for many years past is furnished by the tolalisator returns for the racing and trotting fixtures held on Boxing Day this year. The returns show a decided advance on those of last year, and in many cases the figures are more than comparable with those of 1929, before the depression. The total amount of money parsed through the totalisator this year was £259,628, compared with £193,453 last year, an increase of £66,175, or roughly a third. With one exception every meeting held on Saturday showed an increase in totalisator investments. This exception was the Westport trotting meeting, but the decrease of £2BB can be accounted for by the fact that on Saturday only seven races were run instead of eight as in other years. The general increase cannot be accounted for to any large extent by good weather on Saturday, for last year none of the meetings was marred by rain. The largest increase is shown in the Auckland Racing Club’s meeting, at which the sum of money handled by the totalisator was £102,798, or an increase of £25,870 on last year’s total. This is the first time since 1929 that the money handled at this meeting has exceeded £IOO,OOO. On other smaller meetings, however, the proportionate increase is even larger, amounting in more than one case to more than 50 per cent. , Details of the amounts invented this year and last year are shown in the following table:—

Racing: 1935. 1936. a Auckland .. 76,928 102,798 Dunedin .. 17,721 19,439 Manawatu .. 24,227 38,143 Taranaki .. 20,461 25,163 Waipukurau .. 4,844 8,136 Westland .. 5,986 5,698 Total .. 150,167 199,377 Trotting: 1935. 1936. £ X* Ashburton .. 21,751 31,739 Gore .. 12.936 16,235 Wairarapa .. 3,375 4,541 Westport .. 5,224 7,736 Total .. 43,286 60,251 Grand total 193,453 259,628