Whangarei Bookies Are Rather Upset

Northern Advocate, 8 January 1948, Page 3

Whangarei Bookies Are Rather Upset

WHANGAREI bookmakers are rather upset about certain aspects of the Gaming Commission’s report. “We will have to close down or we will be spending halt our time in gaol if they enforce the law as they say they will,” said one of them in an interview this morning.

Several bookmakers were asked to comment and the consensus of opinion was that the proposed penalties of a £IOOO fine or three months’ gaol, were severe enough to provide a deterrent to bookmaking.

thing doing this Saturday—we are going to take a holiday,” a member of the Dominion Sportsmen’s Association stated.

The report, in some respects, was a good one but it was vicious in respect of bookmakers, and the commission’s attitude was a big surprise to bookmakers, he concluded.

The bookmakers said they would have no alternative but to go out of business.

They considered that the off-course totalisator scheme as proposed by the commission was far too cumbersome to be workable, particularly in out-of-the-way places where communications were difficult. TELEPHONE CONGESTION

One of them expressed the opinion that the introduction of the off-course tote plan would be to the detriment of small country race meetings where telephone congestion could not be avoided.

The only way to give the public an opportunity of betting legally would be to license bookmakers and run a scheme on the lines of the successful Australian operations.

There was a definite place for bookmakers in the community, they stated. They gave a service which could not be given by any organisation as suggested by the commission. Proof of their place in the community, was their existence If there was no demand for bookmakers, there would be no bookmakers.

Commenting on the business aspect, one of them explained the position with some vehemence. SOMETIMES FLEECED ,- We make money sometimes, and on other occasions we get ‘slogged’ and not infrequently we get ‘fleeced’,” he said.

‘‘The public think it is always the other way.” Other bookmakers agreed with this statement.

They stated they never won an argument with a punter and they encountered a few who were up to various tricks.

At a centre like Whangarei where one authorised agency would handle all bets under the commission's proposals, congestion would be unavoidable. One centre would have to handle work which was at present distributed through several bookmakers. A staff of 10 or 12 clerks would be necessary and it would be impossible even then, to cope satisfactorily with the work available. The commission suggested that bets should be placed an hour and a half before each race, but scratchings were not available at this time and no one would know what horses were running.

Bookmakers took bets up to a minute before the race started. . “ALL-UP” BETS

“All-up” bets, favoured by many punters who fancied three horses at a meeting and could not afford to wager more than £l, had been popular with investors, but they were excluded from the commission’s scheme.

While “all-up” bets were sometimes a nuisance to bookmakers, they accepted them and found that a good many people wagered in this fashion. They put £1 on a horse they liked, and if it paid a dividend, put the lot on another fancied horse.

For a small stake investors stood to win a good amount in this manner. “In future the betting public of Whangarei will find it hard to place a bet in the town. There will be no-