THE GAMING LAW

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 25, 29 July 1926, Page 13

THE GAMING LAW

BILL IN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

PUBLICATION OF DIVIDENDS; THE DOUBLE "TOTE," ETC.

A number of amendments of the Gaming Act, so far as it relates to the sport of racing, are proposed by the Hon. £ir Edwin Mitchelson in a Bill, which" lie has introduced in the Legislative Council, and which was set down for second reading in the Council yesterday. The measure proposes to repeal that clause which makes it illegal for an officer of a racing club to i-ccept telegraphic instructions as to investments on the totalisator. It . also seeks to exempt the secretary of a club from the clause which forbids the delivery of betting telegrams at the racecourse. The principal alteration in the present law which the Bill .contemplates is that which seeks to wipe out the restrictions upon the publication of dividends, the tipping of results, investments on the totalisator, or statements from which the amount of dividends or starting prices may be calculated. The repeal of the section forbidding the use of double totalisators 13 also desired. In regard to the removal of persons from the racecourse for breach of rogu- . lations under the Act, the Bill proposes an addition that any person so removed shall not re-en' i the course on the same day, and that if he does so he shall be liable to arrest by any constabje without warrant, be taken before a Magistrate or two Justices, and be liable to a, fine o£ £50 or one month~'s imprisonment. Totalisator licenses are to be granted to racing clubs only in respect of meetings held on their own courses, but in cases whore the course is temporarily unfit or unsafe for racing by reason of improvement or reconstruction works, or other sufficient reason, the' Minister of Internal Affairs may grant a license for the club to use the totalisator on such other racecourse as he thinks fit. A £100 penalty is provided for use of the totalisator on any course other than the one named in the license. The final clause in the Bill repeals the provision in the amending Act of 1924 that if a racing club changes its constitution so as to become a trotting or hunt club, it may retain the right to receive a permit as a racing clnb.