Jackpot Rules Changed

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32347, 13 July 1970, Page 16

Jackpot Rules Changed

“The Press'* Special Service AUCKLAND, July 12. Jackpots will continue but under the new regulations they will be of a more agreeable, saner sort.

Under the new conditions the Waikato District Committee will reserve the right to terminate the jackpot if, as they say, they consider it “necessary or advisable to do so."

The pool will be split into two, with 20 per cent of the day’s take set aside for distribution each day to the bet-

ter or betters making the greatest number of winning ■ selections. ■ The next race meeting in . Waikato, and the first at which the new regulations 1 will apply, is at Te Rapa on , Wednesday. The one after that will be at Te Awamutu on Saturday week. Ohinemuri, i in between, is in the Auck- . land district. , Another alteration to the Waikato conditions is that where late scratchings occur , their place in entries already i lodged will be taken by the ; on-course* win favourite for the race. To get the whole 1 pool it will still be necessary > to pick six winners. i The Waikato jackpot now i follows more closely the Auck- j land one which, to the con- ■ siderable benefit of its regu- i lations, was some months later in being introduced. I A difference yet is that only | five winners are required to 1 win the Auckland pool. The ’ jackpot is terminated with ] reasonable frequency, the i date being announced well in advance. , The frequency with which t the Waikato jackpot termin- i ates will depend on the rate of growth of the pool and what the district committee considers is a manageable limit. The committee has had new regulations in mind for some time. But in fairness to thousands of regular betters on the jackpot they felt they had to wait until the pool was won. They have as yet not set a future limit for the pool but $lOO,OOO, say, to start the final day, would be reasonable. The conditions at Matamata 1 made it plain that in spite of , the most earnest attempts of ‘ its administrators no race- f course in New Zealand, except ‘ perhaps Ellerslie, will accom- J modate in comfort the crowd t

attracted by a pool of the Matamata magnitude. A totalisator staff of 200, the biggest number ever employed at a Waikato meeting, managed to put through most of the money on offer but even such a crowd could not remedy the discomfort, race after race, of betters forced to wait in long queues. Open areas surrounding the main totalisator and the jackpot building were packed enough: the crowding in the members’ grandstand was almost unbearable. The Matamata jackpot attracted a great many people who, quite obviously had never before attended a race meeting. The question now is whether, after a day of such discomfort, they will ever, return. The amount of on-course betting, $657,435.50c including the jackpot turnover, is the biggest ever handled at a Waikato meeting-on-course. Bets on last Auckland Cup day were $743,803. The increase in the oncourse bets represents something in the vicinity of $lO,OOO to-the club in gross profit.