Retiring tote manager lias seen many changes

Press, 29 May 1985, Page 45

Retiring tote manager lias seen many changes

By

JEFF SCOTT

: Mr John Wright, the Addington Raceway totalisator manager for the last 30 years and a member of the committee that established the new sell-pay system, retires on Friday. Mr Wright, aged 65, began his association with Addington Raceway as the understudy to Mr A. G. Toon in 1955, taking over as the totalisator manager within 18 months. “In those days we had slightly under 300 staff and handled the equivalent of $334,467 on the win and place and a further $34,298 on-course on Cup day. 1955,” said Mr Wright, who had originally worked for an oil company and then the Territorial Air Force. “Offcourse that day win and place betting was $173,233 and doubles betting $119,740,” he said. “By comparison, the last time electro-mechanical equipment was used for a Cup day was in 1982 when a record on-course turnover of $1,514,033 was punched through with a staff of 465 people. “However, the costs of wages and the increased difficulty in replacing equipment was killing the industry and we had to look at an alternative,” Mr Wright said.

The speed and convenience of the sell-pay system is reflected in last year’s record Cup day on-course turnover of $1,735,983 with a staff of 313 including 266 sell-pay operators. A total of $2,079,574 was bet offcourse on Cup day last year. “I am not of the computer age, but I could see the advantages of it,” Mr Wright said. “Computers do not get tired after six or seven hours of hard intense work whereas humans do. However, I still maintain that the best computer of all is the one between our ears.” The most embarrassing incident in Mr 30-

year term with the three Addington clubs was when the totalisator broke down on Cup day a few years ago. “We lost all our highvalue betting, it was a nightmare,” he said. “The fault was traced to the $lO and $5O windows. We called an emergency meeting and had no alternative but to run the meeting using only the small betting windows.” Mr Wright recalled in that situation one seller punched out 1500 tickets in 40 minutes, a hard-working rate of 37 tickets a minute.

“In 1983 one seller sold 7132 tickets in one day using the old equipment, which was a record. These days a sell-pay teller is pretty ‘hot’ if he or she sells 2000 a day.” Another incident Mr Wright recalls vividly was after the 1981 New Zealand Cup when one punter had a substantial payout to collect. “He told me he dreamed the first five place-getters and backed the first three (Armalight at 27 to 1, Bonnie’s Chance and Hands Down) heavily.” In 1977. Mr Wright was appointed to the working committee on the development of the sell-pay system, which was first used on-

course at a trotting meeting at the Auckland InterDominion championship meeting in March, 1983. The operation began on schedule at Addington Raceway on July 7, 1983. Although he officially retires on Friday, Mr Wright will still be a regular attender at race meetings. “I will still enjoy going to race meetings and look in on the totalisator staff. You get attached to them when you have been working with them for years,” he said. What else will Mr Wright be looking forward to in his retirement? “A bit of fishing and a few new things. I will also be able to take my grandchildren to the show for the first time, something I was never able to do with my own children,” said Mr Wright.