Plan For Off-Course lotaiisat'or Wagers

Northern Advocate, 7 January 1948, Page 6

Plan For Off-Course lotaiisat'or Wagers

WELLINGTON, Wed. (Sp.)—“lt may be that no system as complete In its coverage and as convenient to the great body of offcourse bettors as that now afforded by the illegal bookmakers can be devised,”-states that section of the Gaming Commission’s report recommending the establishment of a system of off-course betting throughout the totalisator.

“The provision, however, of as good a system as is possible, reinforced by a resolute suppression of illegal bookmaking, should be productive of some good results and, as experience is gained, the system can be extended and improved.

“Any satisfactory scheme must involve only the deposit system, supplemented by some rigidly controlled system, by which the public could make bets in convenient premises off the course.”

While recommending for adoption the scheme suggested by the Racing and Trotting Conferences, the commission urges that the recommendations should be regarded as tentative find that some authority should be created to watch results, so that not only variations or improvements could be made but also radical alterations where the indications were that a radical change was necessary. Details of the scheme are:—

portion that the money from oll'-coursc betting which has passed through the totalisator maintained by each during the year bears to the aggregate sum handled in off-course betting during that year.

If a company were formed, only racing and trotting clubs authorised to operate a totalisator should be eligible as shareholders.

The payment of interest on any capital subscribed Should not be countenanced, as the shareholder clubs would benefit otherwise from the company’s operations. On the other hand it is recommended that any sums received by the clubs from operations of the scheme should be free of any obligations to disburse such sums of any part of them in stakes. Such moneys should be regarded as available for expenditure for general purposes. INITIATING SCHEME “To ensure that the scheme as proposed, subject to such appropriate modifications as may appear desirable, is put in hand with reasonable expedition, the Minister of'lnternal Affairs might well, after consultation with the Racing Advisory Board, fix a date for its initiation, and make the grant of totalisator licences dependent upon a satisfactory initiation by the conferences,” the report states. “For this, no new legislation is necessary. “Some such sanction is essential, for inaction on the part of the conferences might well tend to the continued maintenance of the present illegal system of betting, and that is, beyond all question, contrary to public good.”

The establishment of totalisator agencies at all places where the volume of business appeared to warrant it. —200 are suggested. The agencies to be under control of the two conferences, or of an organisation set up by them. Two methods of bettf'ng at such premises—cash on race days; on other days, as well as on race days, bets by telephones, telegraph, or post. Investments made at agencies to be collated and the results transmitted to sub-district agencies which, in turn, will collate and transmit the totals to a head office in Wellington. The head office to carry out the final collation and transmit the result to the on-course totalisator concerned, so that the off-course betting on each race could be recorded on the oncourse totalisator as soon as the totalisator betting for that race began. TELEPHONE BETS It is not proposed to disburse dividends until the first day after the race meeting to which the betting related. When the telephone is used, the investor will be given a code name or number of his own choosing, and he can then use the telephone to lay bets.

Persons wishing to bet by telephone must first make a deposit to cover the amount of the betting, with a suggested minimum of £2. Two conditions necessary initially are that all bets must be placed at agencies an hour and a half before the advertised starting time of the race, and that bets will not be received until acceptances have been made known.

The conferences did not suggest that bettors could bet against their winnings, but the commission feels that a system of betting against winnings must be adopted. Answering objections to this scheme by the Dominion Sportsmen’s Association the commission refers to the “progress bettor” stated by the association to constitute 80 per cent of off-course bettors.

It is unthinkable,” the report states,

“that bookmakers should be licensed, with all the disadvantages and evil consequences which would accrue from licensing them merely to convenience .this type of bettor. NOT FOR THEIR BENEFIT “As it may be, they will be able to bet on alternate races, and if the offcourse totalisator system develops in efficiency, as it doubtless will, the limitation of betting to one and a half hours before starting time of any race will bo reduced considerably. “In England, Tote Investors, Ltd., accepts bets up to five minutes before starting time and gets them to the course.”

Two other classes, whom, the commission feels, the totalisator system will not suit are owners and trainers who do not want,, by betting on the totalisator, to depress the dividends their horses will pay, and those bettors generally who want to back favourites and do not wish to depress the dividend.

Beth these people prefer the bookmakers, but the commission is not disposed to support an undesirable system merely for their benefit. OTHER CRITICISMS

Other criticisms heard by the commission were:—

Unless dividends were published bettors would seek knowledge from the bookmakers, and, being thus thrown into contact with them would feel some obligation to bet with them. The commission feels that there is validity in this argument, which is one of its reasons for recommending that dividends be published. Delay in payment of dividends might induce winners to bet on credit with bookmakers, knowing that they had their winnings from the totalisator to rely upon for the discharge of their obligations. That difficulty, the commission thinks, will be overcome by allowing bettors to bet against their winnings. The cost of administration is estimated at from 5 to 7 per cent upon the amount of the turnover. '

It would be unwise to place any part of this cost upon the bettor, for that would encourage illegal bookmaking, which could operate free of any such imposition, the commission continues.

NO COST TO STATE Neither does the commission recommend that the Government should bear part of the cost, for by so doing it would, in a sense, clothe itself with a proprietary interest in the conduct of a betting system.

To suggest any special reduction in taxation of such betting would bear a similar import. Therefore the burden of cost should fall upon the Racing and Trotting Conferences.

While recommending that authority be given for the totalisator off-course system to be established, the commission stated that public interest required that the administration of the scheme should be subject to some restrictions and obligations. To avoid any incentive to anyone to solicit betting, payment of any commission to anyone concerned in the administration of the scheme should be sternly restrained.

All persons employed should be paid i fair wage fer their work and the ro:nonsibilitv involved, but no more.

DIVISION OF PROFITS

The wage should not depend on turnover, nor should any device be countenanced which would make the material interests of individuals in any way dependent upon their introducing or attracting betting.

Distribution .of profits should be regulated.

No individual or company (for it may be necessary to incorporate a company) should make any profit out of the undertaking. All profits, less such reasonable sum as it may be necessary to retain as a contingency, should be divided among racing and trotting clubs in the pro-