BETTING IN ENGLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19834, 3 January 1928, Page 11

BETTING IN ENGLAND.

TOTALISATOR QUESTION. ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT. [jmOM OUK OWN COjftBESPONSEWI, ] LONDON. Not. S3T; Tie Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mir. Winston Churchill, has announced that if, nest session of Ptwiiarnent, a. private member's bill authorising the establishment of totalisators on racecourses obtains a. second reading on a freo vot« of the House of Commons, the Government will ; endeavour to provide facilities for its passage into law. Controversy on the subject still antinues. The paper Sporting Life is opposed to the totalisator. This journal quotes Mr. Edgar Wallace, who seys that the introduction of the machine to assist racing would be similar to "tryittf to cure a patfent of typhoid by inoculating him with scarlet fever.'" "It passes comprehension," says the paper, "that a tax of* 2 per cent, on all staked bets on the course having dona so much injury to rs,cirig, advocates of a cure should fight, for a tax of at least 10 per cent, by means of the totalisator. There is a lot oi talk about a half cf the amount raised through the totalisator being set apavt for racing improvement and for pi imiums tfl breeders, another 2£ per cent, to go to the racecourse executive, and for the government to take the remaining pe;r cent. "We havo a right' to ask, the assumption being general by those win advocate the 'tote/ what is the authority for thus apportioning the 'tote' deductions? The Treasury have made go gesture* approving of such a division, and those who cherish this view that tha Government ' would he content with a mere 25 per cent, of the total percentages of tha stakes would probably find they had; been living in a fool's paradise if and when the machine is installed on our ooursea," The Aga Khan, writing to the Times, says the only satisfactory plan ia that under which all money invested at starting price itnd on the racecourse wocld be invested in the totalisator. Hft says:— "This scheioe has given rise l'r6 much controversial writing, and it may }>e that, in view of opjiosition from booknakers and interested parties, Parliament -Mill not-be prepared to make so far-reaching a change immediately, though it ia ultimately'inevitable. I suggest, as a aecond-lwet way, that at least stay-at-home people and starting-price backers all over the country should have the choice of putting their money into the central totalisator; in other words, that if Parliament does not compel, it will permit general adoption of this method. "The reform which tile Jocltev Club has accepted in principle will not take tie far on the road to more sitisfactory racing conditions if the totalisator is limited to backers on tho spot, which means & very small proportion indeed of the backing public. That public would soon leara to appreciate a system under which payment would be assured, and a better price would be obtained in the long run. The respectable bookmakers, whose conservatism is behind mcst cf the objections raised, would gain i*v the end, as they would get a baiter chan.ce of laying off. There can be no doubt that opportunity to use the totalisator irrespective of presence on the course would be of advantage both to tha starting-price backer and to the racegoer—to ihe latter bocanse, among other reasons, the adniini stratora of the course would get a share of tha proceeds, enabling them to improve the accommodation and facilities for the general