BETTING BOOTHS PROPOSED TO GAMING COMMISSION

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 April 1947, Page 2

BETTING BOOTHS PROPOSED TO GAMING COMMISSION

(P.A.j ApCKfcjMJp, This Day. “It seems to be true thgt people will bet and that in the long run they lose. The very deep-rooted objection to licensing bookmakers in New Zealand would appear to be that the business would be too one-sided-envy of the reputed large bookmaking profits plus a feeling of annoyance that a few should flourish' on the weakness of many.” With this introduction a proposal to replace the present undercover bookmaker system in New Zealand by a system of off-course betting booths attached to post offices and operated either by the State or by the present totalisator .companies, was submitted to the Gaming Commission today by Mr J. L. Brady. His scheme was that the punters at these booths should bet in cash, as is done now with the bookmakers and for winning bets should receive totalisator odds within the same limits of £2O for a win and £5 for a place for gallops and £8 -and £3 for trots. k The betting booths’ profits, he says, should be put in a national pool and at the end of each year what remained of the pool alter the. deduction of expenses and State tax should be distributed to the losers on the face value of the tickets saved and presented for this purpose. Mr. Brady contended that interest in racing was largely due to the prominence given to it in the press.