WOMAN BOOKMAKER

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3713, 5 October 1926, Page 2

WOMAN BOOKMAKER

5,000 BETS A DAY IRON NERVES AND A COOL MIND “ How many bets do I make in a day? Well, my clerk tells me somewhere about 5,000,” says Mrs Helen Vcrnet, the only woman bookmaker in England. ‘‘ All the small bets.” she continued, “ are recorded on cards which my clerk gives out before the betting begins, and which are filled in by the backers and returned to me. This saves a lot of time, but, even so, in the last ten minutes or quarter of an hour before a race begins I still have to take about oUO bets. LIGHTNING THINKING.

“This means lightning thinking and talking, and 1 could never manage it without the hell) of my clerk, who is so quick that he can actually take down in longhand faster than I can talk.

“ However fast 1 speak he is always ready before me. That would be considered a good speed even for a shorthand writer, but to get it all down in longhand is rather wonderful, and, of course, invaluable to me.” The ten years she has spent on the racecourse have m no way impaired the health and vigor of this distinguished looidng and remarkable woman. All the same she does not recommend it as a profession for women. It is, she considers, too great a tax on the physique for any hut the athletic type of girl to take up without exposing her health to serimjs injury.

For there are frequent wettings to he endured —times when the rain pours down, and even the uncertain protection of an umbrella is denied. When, soaked to the skin, she must stand through the whole afternoon, and then fac.9 a train journey back to town before a change of clothes is possible.

To be a successful bookmaker requires iron nerves, a clear head for figures, good health, and a real love

for racing Mrs Vernet has always been an enthusiastic follower of the sport, and belonged to all the clubs long before she took it-up as a/business. To the girls who are interested in racing, and who feel that their nerves are equal to the strain of making rapid and accurate calculations amid the tense excitement of a race crowd, who could listen to and answer a dozen or more people all speaking at once and not get flurried, and who would like to make it their career, her advice is to begin by getting a position as clerk to some well-established turf commission agent. In this way a thorough grounding in the busienss is gained.

THE BETTING TAX. Later they might do what this pioneer woman did for the first four years of her career —that is, go to the various race meeting and do all the work herself. Then, when business warranted it, she engaged a clerk. She also considers it an advantage to work with a firm, as she does, on fifty-fifty basis. By this arrangement she is relieved of all accounts, which the firm keep, hut is responsible for her clerk’s salary. When asked what she thought of the Betting Tax, she smiled and said: “It is rather difficult to say anything just now while everything is so unsettled. I don’t object to a betting tax, but I do think it would be rather unfair for us to be taxed on our losses as well as our gains, which is what the suggested tax on turnover really means. If that hapjiened I’m afraid I should soon be looking for a new occupation. ’ PRETTY FROCKS.

Mrs Vernet retains a truly feminine delight in pretty frocks, and says she always enjoys watching the fashions at a race* meeting, particularly at Ascot. In this respect she is fortunately situated, for her position in the enclosure gives her an excellent opportunity for devoting the few slack minutes between races to scrutinising the beautiful dresses.