THE BOOKMAKERS' PARADISE

Evening Star, Issue 16624, 5 January 1918, Page 12

THE BOOKMAKERS' PARADISE

Ever sine© the unexpected defeat of Rael Locin by Deneb in the Final Handicap on the concluding day of the V.R.C. Spring Meeting at Flemington, bookmakers in this State have been reaping a great harvest. With fewer race meetings and immense fields combined with other influences which the controllers of racing appear quite unable to combat, the speculative racegoer lias been experiencing a particularly bad time at the hands of the non-producers, as they are called, and when members of the fraternity in wellequipped motor cars were gaily dashing along the road from the Mentone racecourse a few days ago, while hundreds of their clients walked soberly but sorrowfully toward the railway station, more than one vowed he would never attend another meeting until the totalisator pays fair prices,, and it pays second money, to say nothing of other advantages. Considering the number of politicians who on the hustings declared themselves in favor of the introduction of the machine, the necessary legislation should quite easily bs obtainable next session, provided, of course, nothing is done to influence them on the side of that strange combination, the bookmakers and spoil-sports, in the meantime. What an enormous amount is taken out of the public purse to keep tho bookmaker in luxury! Usually a man of expensive tastes, well dressed, and with an affluent appearance, his expenses alone, in the case of the majority of paddock ringmen, must reach anything up to £I,OOO a year, and as there are no fewer than 392. bookmakers licensed at Flemington (there are 123 in the inside "ring") the aggregate reaches a tidy amount. These expenses include license fees, Government tax, wages of clerks, upkeep of motor cars, etc. These, huge sums, as well as a big percentage of the turnover, the amount of which is difficult to estimate, could all be saved for distribution among the largo army of racegoers—mainly revenue producers—were the totalisator in operation. The machine would show how much money was invested, and the taxpayers would collectively benefit, instead of a' few bookmakers, who always •show an aversion to giving anv idea of the amount that passes through their hands annually. In 1914-15 in New Zealand the amount invested through the totalisator, which is there used °on all racecourses, was £4,349,529, and it is safe to assert that in Victoria the investments would _ reach something like £7,000,030. Even if only' a very small percentage of this sum is retained by the bookmaker he is still able to build terraces of houses, as well as to live in voluptuous luxury! whereas if .put through the totalisator the money would be utilised for the public good and with the object of assisting deserving charities. When the Totalisator Bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly by Messrs Farthing and Oman" in 1915 it was estimated that tho amount passing through the machines would be £6,000,000, and .the total deductions at 7± per cent, were set down at £450,000, made up as follows:—Maintenance at 2 per cent., £120,000; racing clubs, £110,000; charities (plus fractions)! £110,000; returned soldiers' fund £IIO,OOO. ¥ . In Sydney the totalisator will be ready .for use in the Leger enclosure and on the flat at the A.J.O Summer Meeting at Rand wick a fortni;]