BETTING BOOTHS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26437, 16 April 1947, Page 8

BETTING BOOTHS

SUBSTITUTE FOR BOOKMAKER

PROPOSAL BEFORE COMMISSION

p.A AUCKLAND, Apl. 15. “it seems to be true that people will bet, and that in the long run they lose. The very deep-rooted objection to licensing bookmakers in New Zealand would appear to be that the business is too one-sided—the envy of reputed large book-making profits plus a feeling of annoyance that a few should flourish on the weakness of the many.”

With this introduction, a proposal to replace the present under-cover bookmaker system in New Zealand by a system of off-course betting booths attached to post offices, operated either by the State or the present totalisator companies, was submitted to the Gaming Commission to-day by Mr J. L. Brady. His scheme was that punters at these booths should bet in cash, as was done now with the bookmakers, and for winning bets should receive totalisator odds within the limits of £2O for a win and £5 for a place for gallops, and £8 and £3 for trots. The profits from the betting booths, he said, should be put in a national pool, and at the end of each year what remained of the pool after the deduction of expenses and State tax should be distributed to losers on the face value of tickets saved and presented for this purpose. . , Mr Brady contended that the interest in racing was largely due to the prominence given to it in the press.