OFF-COURSE BETTING POLL: RACING AUTHORITIES’ PLAN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22851, 22 January 1949, Page 4

OFF-COURSE BETTING POLL: RACING AUTHORITIES’ PLAN

(S.R.)

JT will depend on the res' whether off-course bettii Zealand.

When (he legislation was before Parliament, no definite plan was suggested by (he Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. W. E. Parry, who said the future legislation would depend on the electors’ decision. However, the Royal Commission on Gaming and Racing included in its report full details of an off-course betting system, submitted by the Racing Conference and the national body governing trotting, and it is assumed that if the poll results in approval of off course betting, the legislation will substantially follow the lines suggested, and endorsed by the commission.

It is suggested by the racing authorities tint agencies should be set up under their control, in about 200 places for the receipt of bets. On race days, only cash would be received, and the promoters believe that this will tend to prevent the creation of a “betting-shop” atmosphere. Cash-in-Advance Basis On other than race days, bets will be accepted by telegraph, telephone or post. The investments will be collated at a central office in Wellington, and the details telegraphed to the course, so that off-course betting will be included in the totalisator figures as soon as betting begins for the race. The system would be conducted on a strict eash-in-advanee basis, and the problem of the telephoned bet is to be overcome by arranging to receive deposits at the nearest agency. The telephone investor would be given a code number or name of his own choosing. The agency operator, on receiving a telephoned bet, would prepare a numbered betting slip and repeat the details to the investor to check its accuracy. All bets must be placed at agencies one and a half hours before the starting time, and bets will not be received until the acceptances have been made known.

The scheme does not allow of an investor continuing his bets if his deposit is exhausted, but English procedure quoted with approval is that a client is permitted to bet against winnings. Disbursement of Dividends It is not proposed to disburse dividends until the first day after the race meeting to which the betting account relates. The delay in payment, it is stated, will not impose any hardship on off-course bettors, since bookmakers never settle their accounts until a race meeting has concluded. Publication of dividends would be an essential feature of off-course betting through official agencies. It was suggested to the commission that unless dividends were published, bettors would seek the knowledge from bookmakers, and would consequently feel some obligation to bet with them. “We feel.” commented the commission, “that there is validity in this argument, and it is for that, amongst other reasons, that we recommend that dividends be published.”

WELLINGTON, Jan. 22

lit of the poll on March 9 ig is to be legalised in New