The Totalisator.

Lake County Press, Volume V, Issue 277, 19 January 1888, Page 3

The Totalisator.

The. greatest interest is now taken by sporting men in the working 01 the totalisator. Opinions vary considerably regarding its effects. To our mind it has worked gr-at mischief in this respect—that it has lured a class of men to indulge in wagering who did not previously do so. In fact it appears to u-> that the majority of people who attend race meetings have been sent mad on that point, Before the advene of the machine, and when 'netting was confined to the bookmakers on the one hand and the public on the o'h»r. the edds at which a man would 'nack a horse were a matter of consideration. Now, however, people bet blindly. Many simply invest on a horse because there uppear to be heavy odds against him taking what they term an " outside show." If people see 4tol as the probable dividend on a horse, what a great number of them will do is to " put a pound on " for the sake of the odds. The possibility is that when the machine closes for the race they have not " even money" against their horse. Another thing commonly overlooked is this—in glancing at the odds people fail to see that,irrespective of other deductions, the net profit to each winner will be less by one pound than appears (for the pound invested) and that by putting on another pound another man participates in the dividend and reduces the odds. One answer to a general objection to the machine, however, is that those who enjoy racing now by that means pay for their sport. That holds good to a certain extent; but the question

is, .Are they not paying very clearly t It occurred to us that the totalisator figures for an entire meeting would prove instructive, and, as it happened that we lift') not previously a better opportunity of getting complete figures than at the Fratikton meeting, we compi ed, as an example, a table showing the sums invested on each rice at that meeting, the total of dividends paid out, ote. No doubt those who have never entered into a calculation of the matter will he surprised at some of the results shown. The table will be plain to all :

2078 1843 19 £ s. The total of investments is thus found to be 2.07S 0 Whil•: the total paid out in dividends was 1,843 19 Showing the sum of 2.">5 1 to have been deducted for commission. Ten per cent, (the rate of commission charged) on the total Hum put through would, however, only amount to 207 18 Thus there is a balance of ... 27 3 to be accounted for, and that balance, must consist of the sums under Is which the totalisator people do not pay cut. It would be of further interest to find the net profit to those who invested on winners. To do so the pound winch each winner puts in will have to be deducted. £ e. Then from the total of money paid in dividends, viz. ... 1843 19 will have to be deducted 800 0 for the number of pounds put in by the 850 winning investors. Which will give* net profit to the lot of 993 19 The net average profit to each winning investor for the whole meeting will thus be seen to be £1 3s 41-d, while the average dividend (which must not b« confused with that) was £3 12s 9d and a fraction. The probability is th&t the figures for any other meeting would show similar avernge results.

Total of 'I 'ot.-.l On •;UM •» 1 In vested. IVinner, DM dend. paid o ut. R-iop. £ £ a. £ s. Hurdles ... 1.77 .. . ss. S .. . 137 4 Dwl>y ... 157 .. . 107 . 6 .. l:;9 .) (i. Maud... <;>}.. . 42 1 .. . 14 '2 Hick ISO .. . 49 . S .. . 1(1(1 12 Pulilicatia' 277 .. . ieo. s.. . 224 0 Tio 1 -. . 1*22 .. . 15 .. 7 0 .. . 109 10 Main en ... ! 196 . 79 . .. 2 4 .. . 173 Ifi ('up , '277 .. . 25 . .. 9 19 .. . 24S 15 Novel .. . 1.12 . . 14 . .. s 9 .. .lis (i Plying ... 27-1 •• 170 . .. 1 8 .. . 2"S 0 Hospital .. . 63 .. . 14 ... 4 1 .. . 50 14 IVot . 103 .. . 51 ... 1 IS .. . 0(i IS CouBolatiun 10'2 ., . 26 ... 3 10 .. . 9) 0