"BOOKS" VERSUS "TOTE"

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 137, 7 December 1927, Page 7

"BOOKS" VERSUS "TOTE"

•V,vJr- IS*" a good deal o£ argument in Victoria at present concerning the totalisator and bookmaker systems of betting on racecourses. Amongst the general le^ tfaftnT °T\ t], le .foll^vinl contribu1° •] h, e- A«Btralasian" from one who described himself as a racegoer and churchgoer, and vouched for'as the owner of He wrH°es?-l the StUd °r in trainine- ■ N"ow, it amuses me to bet 5s or sometmies Ms on a horse, and my wife is m^sm^Ve?.^ «"»»* 5s to double

I approach a bookmaker and ask the price which is usually of course odds cm, and he looks at my brown note (which will return .me perhaps 8s • profit if the horse wins), and, scowling, takes the bet allowing me to .notice his scorn and how much he despises me. We can't all be as rich as he is, but I leel my littleness acutely, and-am teinptecl sometimes to put on the whole £1, .which I have no desire to invest. I still resist the urge, Sfoecause there, are still Plenty o£ layers to clo business with, and they do^ not all despise me yet. _The "tote" is not human, has no RollsRoyce to keep in running repair, and never scowls; when it comes I will be able to bet and keep a great deal of selfrespect.

Soon it seems, as if odds will be asked for by the books about two or even three horses in the same race, if the present tendency grows, but the "tote" (especially if as in South Africa there are two, one win only, and one place only) will be more generous, and sof- permit of more fun with smaller investments. I firmly believe that the "tote" is. an inducement to smaller betting. Betting is a folly, not a sin; it has no interest whatever in preventing a horse ■winning, and promotes honesty; it never beguiles the public to lose by making false

iavountes (shouting is au advertisement, and it pays to advertise); and, lastly, it benefits horses and thu titate. lm not running down the bookmakers, they are almost all honest, and p;iy with a smile and win without one (because they are accustomed to it); but when a man with a quiet nod puts a thousand on a horse it is unobserved by the public «lU?n^l I>efleCted *■} theodJs the^eaf er called wh e , eas a .thousand put. on the tote sat or.-:e observed by the auei p behind him, and his price is ruined This man's betting- will be curtailed at once byaa^b moYS trytoearaso-^