TURF GAMBLING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20702, 27 April 1929, Page 17

TURF GAMBLING.

SOME ‘ STRIKING FIGURES, LURE OF THE BOOKMAKER. {Feom Ovr Own Correspondent.) ' ' » . , SYDNEY, April 11. ine hold ’which, betting on. horse racing has on the. people of New Zealand and Australia has been under review here. On account of the different conditions in- 1 both countries nothing like a comparison, is possible, but the figures that have been published are of great interest neverthea rV totalisator investments; at the meeting of four days, xoAn n «i ias . Ju , st concluded, amounted to £200,940. A leading Sydney bookmaker, x is a recognised turf authority, esti?2 a onnnoo ha R oU i ß l de J th - e to t*Ksator, £2^oo0 3 000 changed hands, in vragers. Xotalisator. betting -is not very popular with the racing public of Australia. The regular patrons of the sport invest with tlie bookmakers. And it is impossible to guage accurately the amount of money which changes hands during a big meeting at Eandwick, but the £2i000,000 already mentioned, may be regarded as a moderate estimate. On such important races as the Doncaster Handicap and the &nL C JP lfc estimated that about £-00,000 changes hands over each race; In the saddling. paddock at Randwick there aro_ 144 - bookmakers, and the majority.of them make books On the"principal handicaps of between £SOO and £7OO. three or four of the largest operators work on £Booo' books, and about, half a dozen incur liabilities of about £SOOO each.. The next 30 bookmakers havo an sggregate. of- about £7500 each, leaving approximately £IOO,OOO between the remaiodcr of the bookmakers in the saddling paddock, the 147 bookmakers in the St. Leger reserve and the , 130 bookmakers on the fiat. On the less import- - ant races the size of the books is decreased, and in arriving at an estimate for the four days consideration mbst also be given to the fact that invariably the first ,two days of the big fixture attract the largest crowds. Then the money that .changes hands oh the first two days is considerably more than half the grand total of the meeting. During the year 1927-28 the totalisators m New South Wales put through £2,330,209. Of that amount £1,447,712 was invested at metropolitan registered meetings and £-641,387. at the unregistered ‘ pony meetings. Investments in the country amounted to £241,110. In New South Wales the totalisator always has the strong open opposition of the bookmaker. In New Zealand, it is pointed out, the totalisator provides the only legal facilities for wagering on a racecourse, and the annual investments in 1928 exceeded £7,000,000. The exact figures, ac- / cording to the Year Book, • were £7,634,077 invested on 2523 races on 319 days and for stakes amounting to £501,780. This total of investments in New Zealand was exceeded in 1924, 1925, and' 1926, and in the latter year the amount put through the machine was £8,605.582. , • If the totalisator figures in New South Wales approached anything like those reached in the Dominion, many a small racing club would cease to have financial worries, and the Government, too, would have an easier mind as far as its fiusueps go. Still, the bookmaker in Australia is in an unassailable position. The public wants him, and he is bound to stay.