EIGHT MILLIONS

Evening Post, Issue 28, 1 August 1936, Page 22

EIGHT MILLIONS

OFF-THE-COURSE BETTING

The opinion that off-the-course betting would have to; be seriously tackled if the existing position of owners was to be,benefited:was- expressed by Mr. E. G: 1 Sutherland in a recent address to owners, trainei-s, and breeders in Hamilton.- . - ...

The Government had to be made to realise, Mr. Sutherland stated, that off-the-course betting had to be tapped. He produced figures to show that people in a position to know estimated that the annual turnover of bookmakers in New Zealand was £4,000,000, while a yet more authoritative source considered the figure more in the vicinity of £8,000,000. If that £8,000,000 went through the proper channels today clubs would benefit to the extent of £493,000. . ■-...

He instanced betting shops in South Australia and explained how they, were run there. They were; "made too attractive and permitted to open within too small a radius of certain meetings, with the result that attendances at those meetings were affected. If such shops were permitted in New Zealand the difficulty could be overcome by closing the shops within a certain radius of a meeting. The illegal bookmaker would then disappear, as he had apparently done in South Australia. There the bookmaker was a protector of the law in that he would do his utmost to prevent illegal bookmakers operating. If they could not get the bookmaker back" in New Zealand they should make every endeavour" to get the money, to the course. Personally, he did not favour the telegraphing of bets through the Post Office. A.better scheme, to his mind, was to make the racing club offices at various points the receiving .depots for betting on outside meetings. The public considered it had the right to bet, and if facilities were not provided money would continue to flow through illegal channels.