RECORD BETTING

Grey River Argus, 20 August 1940, Page 7

RECORD BETTING

AT NATIONAL MEETING. CHRISTCHURCH, August 19. Only in thre e other Grand National weeks has beeting on the totalisator been higher than last week. The total' betting was £357,420 or only £15,000 below the amount invested in 1920, the year of all-high records. The was the heaviest sinc e 1922. Betting on the totalisator cost the racegoers £60,309 by way of totalisator and dividend tax. Compared with last year’s figures, the betting was £42,786 although Grand National Hurdles Day was affected by heavy rain overnight and threatening weather. On the second dav at Addington, too, the figures must have been affected by the rain which set in before the last race was run. More money . was handled by the machines at Riccarton on Tuesday chan was handled for the three days’ meeting in 1932, the depth of the depression. Attendances were very large for the six days, and visitors were as numerous as ever. Many soldiers now in camp at Burnham and Addington also assisted increase the betting figures. The Government was the biggest winner of the week. Its share of the betting as totalisator tax of 5 per cent, and dividend tax of 5 per cent, was £33,503, whil P owners also passed over 1 per cent, of the stakes.