Problems with Addington tote

Press, 6 September 1976, Page 18

Problems with Addington tote

Senior totalisator officials had one of their more trying nights at Addington Raceway on Saturday. A shortcircuit in one of the selling units in the Metropolitan Inn during betting on the first race affected every selling unit on the course.

As a result many hundreds of units were incorrectly credited to one horse on the place pool. When dividends were calculated it was discovered that there had been an error in the equipment. There was considerable delay while the trouble was traced and, eventually, the place dividends were recalculated.

Originally the winner, Come Here, was shown as paying $7.85, Jumbo, $5.20, and Be Free $4.75. These were finally announced as $7.20, $4.80 and $4.35. The president of the New Brighton Trotting Club (Mr B. B. Woods) said later that the trouble was caused by a mechanic failing to replace correctly the back cu a

machine after making an adjustment. The back of the machine apparently became dislodged and this was not apparent at the time, he said. “This resulted in electrical circuits being short-circuited and fuses blown. Every selling machine on the course was affected,” he said. The trouble recurred during the night and there was a lengthy delay between the closing of the totalisator and the running of the Oxford Handicap, which started almost 20 minutes late.

“It was just one of those things,” said the totalisator manager (Mr J. B. F. Wright), "and it is unlikely to occur again.” It was fortunate that the crowd was a small one, attributable, according to some club officials, to the industrial unrest in Christchurch.

On-course betting cropped $4723 to $282,326, while offcourse the total was $503,064, a decrease of >564,869.50. _