DOMINION TOTALISATOR FIGURES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 108, 8 May 1937, Page 22

DOMINION TOTALISATOR FIGURES

AT LOS ANGELES THEY HANDLE £300,000 A DAY!

■ (By "Rangatira.") Increased totalisator receipts have been a rule almost without exception in the Dominion during the present season, yet very few of the clubs have secured figures really comparable with those of their best years. Several clubs are now back near the mark they held just prior to the years of the depression, but only in the Auckland provincial district have any clubs attained or passed the totals of the 1920-21 season, which set the peak for betting figures jn the .Dominion. The present rate of improvement, however, 3 still jshowing no sign of abatement, and should it be continued with next season turnovers in another year's time may be approaching record' dimensions with a number of the clubs. The record turnover for any clay's racing in the Dominion is the £154,188 10s handled at Ellerslie on Auckland Cup Day (December 27) in 1920. The biggest day's return of the present season is £102,798, also -at Ellerslie on Auckland Cup day. In 1929, just before the slump began, Auckland Cup Day . turnover was £121,417, the best figures of that season.

Though turnovers may continue for some time - yet to show regular increases, there is cause to doubt whether, when they become stable again, they, will have established a new high-water) mark against which future figures will require to be set. On general reasoning it is probably more likely that, n<Jw that turnovers are back 1 near pre-depression level, they will ' setr : down round about this mark, as They were irom 1927 to early 1930; and remain fairly stable till they are again affected by extraneous circumstances. On suchi assumption, one might expect to see an end to, substantial increases after the present winter session isover. Only the future, of course, can show (whether this is destined to be so. Meanwhile dubs do not need to worry themselves about the possibility, for the immediate future is still brightly paved with prospects of continuing increases in investments and other returns from race meetings. Perhaps in twelve months' time, however, it will be necessary for club executives to review the position and to consider whether . further increased turnovers i can be anticipated when •' drafting programmes. PROGRESS OF RECOVERY. \ It is interesting in this connection to note how far racing has progressed during the last season on the road back .to the "good times." Perhaps the . most elucidating comparison is that af-' iOTtied by the Auckland Racing Club, bs this club has (excepting for one ■ season) held to the old system of bet- • ting. ; , • The Auckland Racing Club holds all the reedrds for the, Dominion in the matter o£ • attendances and turnovers f as, would; be expected with the most populous .centre in the land. Back in 1920 the'record sum of £154,188 10s for ■■& day iv&s handled at Ellerslie on Auckland Cup * Day. ' • That' day also saw two 'other, New Zealand records ' established and never since near ap- ■ proachqd.-'On the Auckland Cup alone , there viras a pool of £29,417 10s, eas- . ily ±h€ Urgent amount ever invested on a singlfe , event on the totalisator -in . the Dominion; and in the Great Northern Fpal Stakes £9294 was entrusted in snpporfc.pf that brilliant Absurd colt ■ Mermm—faith that happily for investors; proved safely placed; At that Auckland ■ Cup Meeting -in \ 1920 there were six-figure totals for every one of the four days, and,the Boxing.Day and generally the. New . Year'sj Day ■ figures remained such for . eleven) years from 1919 till 1929. In tne' last-mentioned year, the last before the .depression began, the Cup Day turnbver was £121,417. It was not till the present season that a sixfigure; return was again secured at Ellerslie. When £102,798 was handled last Boxing Day. On the. Cup itself .' the pool .was' nearly £20.000, and

first year on which win-and-place betting was operated at Trentham.

It may also be of interest to contrast these peak figures of the Dominion with those secured '■ in other countries during recent years. New Zealand compares more than favourably with any of them, though it must of. course always be remembered that in most ■other countries the bookmakers take a very considerable portion of the betting pool, whereas here the totalisator has a course monopoly of the betting. In Australia the record amount wagered on the totalisator for one day's' racing is £123,490 ss. That was at Randwick on October 1, 1921. In April, 1922, at Randwick, £34,330 10s was wagered on the Doncaster Handicap, which is the Australian record for one race: In Melbourne, Flemington holds the. record for..'the'largest sum put through the machine. On , Cup Day, 1926, the total reached £115,339 15s, of which £34,077 10s was wagered on the Melbourne Cup. Record totalisator figures in England were made at Ascot last year. For the four days there £425,850 was wagered, and on Royal Hunt Cup Day a sum of ■ £131,955 passed through the machine. The Royal Hunt Cup was the biggest .betting item at the% meeting, with a total of £40,292 10s. As far as