FAMOUS CLUB CLOSES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 8, 11 January 1928, Page 12

FAMOUS CLUB CLOSES

SEQUEL TO BETTING TAX.

The Beaufort, in Solio Square, one of (he best-known sporting clubs in London, will close its doors shortly, writes the London correspondent of the Melbourne "Argus." The betting tax is blamed for the falling-ofl! of membership, which necessitates the club's winding up after (30 years of life. Many famous owners of racehorses and turf commission agents have been associated with the Beaufort, membership being regarded as evidence of integrity and standing in the business of bookmaking. For this reason, overseas betting men always sought honorary membership of the Beaufort while in London on a holiday. Before the betting tax became law, "bookies" came to the Beaufort billiard-room to adjust their books, when the "card was called" on the large ante-post betting races. Now, bookmakers say that there is so little of this type of betting that "calling the card" has become farcical. The other well-known betting club in London is the Victoria, in Wellington street, Strand. Large scale gambling is recalled by the death of Mr. Maurice Jenks, at the, age of 80 years. Mr. Jenks was the principal defendant in the famous Park Place Club case, which decided the illegality of baccarat in England. For many years ho was one of the heaviest gamblers in Europe. When the Park Place Club was raided by the police in 1884, and Mr. Jenks was convicted and fined, he wont to Paris for his baccarat. He won large sums at the game, but at the end he was caught, as all gamblers arc. The story goes that he was playing in Paris six or seven years before the World War, and suffered large losses, licalising that his judgment had deserted him, he decided to give up baccarat playing, and retired to his home in St. John's Wood. Mr. Jenks was no good at any other card game, his bridge being poor, and even his poker play very moderate.