A NEW BETTING MACHINE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 12 October 1880, Page 2

A NEW BETTING MACHINE.

Messrs. Bobbs and Goodwin, of Christ church, are introducing to the world a newly invented machine after the style o£ the much-condemned Totalisator, but without all its objectionable features. Th special reporter of the Lyttelton Times thus describes it : —The great point to be studied, was as to whether, in workinn the new totalisator, fraud would be possible. My decided opinion is, to the words of Salem Scudder, that "The apparatus can't lie." To accomplish such a result, it was imperative that the me. chanism should be so constructed as to ba absolutely automatic, and that the con. taining case should never—during tlio race day—require to be opened. For the information of those who aro unacquainted with the external appearance of a totalisator, a brief description may be given In the front of the cabinet there are three apertures—arranged in pairs—-resembling such as are to be seen in some of the forms of perpetual calendars. The pairs of openings are numbered from 1 up t 0 18, and within each pair any number ur» to 99 can be shown. The figures an, painted upon revolving cylinders. Above the rows of figure panels is one large figure, .panel, capable of showing any number up to 9999, and known as tho grand total. Suppose that 18 horses are to compete in a race, and that upon any one of these horses some person desirca to invest a given sum of money. has, perhaps, selected No. 6 upon hia " krect card." He tenders a sovereign to the totalisator clerk, and receives a tiekot in exchange. The operator turns a handle below the No. 6 figure panel, and the machine records the two-fold fact tint there has been 1 investment on No. C horse, and that the " grand total" of investments, so far, is 1. When there liavo ! been, say, 100 investors, the totalisator shows that number in thegrand total pane] and the numbers of thesub-panelsaddcd together will give the same result. Assumej that the race is over, and that No. 10 horse has won. Then those who have invested on that number, be they few or many, have I the whole of the invested money divided amongst them, less 10 per cent. That 10 per cent, is to recoup tho proprietor of tho totalisator for the use of hisi machine, and to enable him to pay the Jockey Club for the privilege of having it on the ground. If the totalisator is so constructed that the operator may have a hundred investors,, and may make it appear that he haa had a, less number, then he has been enabled to defraud the public. I believe there havei been cases of " misunderstanding " in connection with appliances of the kind. I may now say that I have no intention of describing the mechanism of the totalisator under notice. It hai not at present been protected by a and the proprietors liavo a right to keep the beneGt of their ingenuity and enterprise for themselves. At the same time I am authorised to state that to any C.J.C. stewards Messrs. Hobbs and Goodwin will ba most happy to afford the same facilities which they have given me. Now as to the action of the machine. Tho handles which change the numbers can be moved .forward, but not backward. The grand total figures can be Qhanged only through the medium of one or other of the sub-panel handles, i When a race is about to be run off, n small key is applied, and a bolt is shot in | such a manner as to render it impossible! ito move any one of the handles without smashing some part of the mechanism. The race over, the machine is, unlocked, and then the operator is enabled, by an outer handle, to throw all the figure cylinders out of gear, and—also by outer handles—to return them to zero. To my mind, the appliance seems perfect for the purpose for which it is intended.