EXIT, BOOKMAKER. HIS PAST TRANSACTIONS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 21, 26 January 1911, Page 7

EXIT, BOOKMAKER. HIS PAST TRANSACTIONS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS.

THE LEGISLATIVE SHUTTLECOCK. (By 'Five to One.") So far as Wellington is concerned the bookmaker yesterday resigned that measure of legal respectability which was conferred upon him. by Parliament in 1907. Prior to 1907 the totalisator was the only legal channel for wagering in this country. In 1906 a very determined effort was made by the antigambling section of the community to have the facilities for betting reduced, >i not abolished. Complaint was also made about the prevalence of street bet- j ting and the manner in which, the prin- 1 cipal thoroughfares of the city weie I haunted by bookmakers and the un- j desirables who follow them. Sir Joseph Ward was waited upon by the customary "influential deputation" and generously announced that he would do something. Imagine the- surprise of everybody when it was found that the Bill making street betting and betting at tote- odds more difficult also contained provision for the licensing of bookmakers. Nobody seemed to know why the bookmaker was to be taken under the Government wing, but it was afterwards j hinted that an 1 unholy alliance had been entered into between the leaders of the original deputation and the bookmakers j to kill the totalisator. Be that as it may it is within the writers recollection that the Prime Minister stated in Parliament that unless licenses were con- j ferred on bookmakers the Bill had no | chance of passing. Why? Many people asked the question at the time and wondered in what way and with whom the bookmakers exercised such a powerful influence. That question, however, was never satisfactorily answered. The one legitimate argument used by the promoters of the Bill was that the licensing of bookmakers would rid the streets of them. They put forward this plea in all sincerity, but they were obviously people who had very little experience of the odds-laying fraternity. How the hardened punters laughed when they read in the papers that the Attomey-Ge-neral (the Hon. Dr. Findlay) had been selomnly assured by j a deputation of leading bookmakers that i they would close up their tote shops and business would be- confined strictly to ■ the course if the provision for licensing i was retained in the Bill ! | Well it was retained and the bookmakers had a merry time for three years. At first the Taring dubs were inclined to resent the honour which had been thrust upon them, but they were promptly ordered to obey the law. They did so to such an extent that in three years the law was one of the most discredited and despised pieces of legislation that has ever been put upon the statute book. The bookmaker flourished as he never did before. His business was so remunerative that he was able to pay enormous sums in feesi to tht> clubs (he paid over £1000 in. fees at Wellington this meeting) and build up a, handsome bank 'balance. True, he vacated his tote shop because tlie Act of 1907 contained drastic provisions for dealing with such establishments, but trade was far too profitable to resign, and he made the nearest hotel! Ms "office" for the receipt of cash and. bets on each race day. The outside' public has no idea of the extent of this ! particular trade. It is not- an exaggera- '' tion to say that in Auckland, Wellington, ChristchuTch, and' Dunedin thous- i ands of pounds are wagered at tote odds i on every principal race meeting in New ' Zealand. It was proudly — perhaps in- j nocently— asserted during the recent! controversy by members of the Cabinet! that the Act of 1907 had done away I with street betting, and that wagerino- < as a result had been almost wholly confined to the racecourses. The police! know otherwise. And, what is more, tlie police Know that they are powerless to prevent thisparfcioular form of betting— an illegal system of wagering which, is all in favour of the "books," with their limits of £7 10s and £3 15s. The silver bettor is not so much, in evidence now as he yras prior to 1907, but the volume of illegal betting at tote odds in the cities lias only been slightly reduced. With regular customers of known financial j standing, a bookmaker can take liberties i and resort to devices which no law in j the world can circumvent. What is to ' prevent a backer going up to a book- i maker who is talking along the street: and asking for £1 on Quickstep in the ' Petone Welter? A T o money passes, and! no record of the bet is made afc the i time. Several other wagers may be made in the same way, and at the close of the day accounts are balanced and payment made or received by the bookmaker next day, according to the pigeon's luck. Last session the Government was compelled by force -of public opinion to once again relegate (.he bookmaker to oblivion. Incidentally the list, of places | where he may nol ply his business was widened to include licensed premises Accordingly these peaceful and comfortable haroours of reluge will no longer be available to him. But the antiI gambling enthusiasts may be certain of j this — that lie does not propojp to give |up odds-laying for road-making. It is I much more likely that the boot tivde I wiir benefit largely by the frequency and persistency with whiuli he wiil parade the footpaths in the future. Further, he -will be- able to do an enormous business in what- are known as "doubles" on all the principal events in New Zealand. Double wagering is absolutely the most remunerative business that a bookmaker can undertake. Ask any punter! The writer is convinced . that the only way to put down betting at tote odds (now a criminal offence) is to enact that any person suspected of being a bookmaker is liable to arrest and punishment unless he can prove that he earns his living by some honest form of employment, and that the onus of proving that the person so -charged is not a bookmaker shall rest on the accused' himself. Now, what Legislature would attempt to p^ss such a law? The operations of the "books," during the next three months — their legal existence ends on 31st January — will be watched with keen interest. It is tolerably certain that the army of "hangers on," tho second-rate spielers and first-class wastera, _ will be considerably reduced. The police will be no longer met with, the answer that these gentry are "bookmakers" when anxious to arrest on a charge of vagrancy. The gaols will benefit to a certain extent. Meantime, th© genuine bookmaker is hugely amused at the atempts to extinguish him, and the determined stay-at-home punter knows quite well that he will have no difficulty >'v backing- Ms fancy in the future — always at a limit of £7 10s and £3 15s.