New York Grand Jury Recommends Legalising Of Off-track Betting

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26540, 15 August 1947, Page 5

New York Grand Jury Recommends Legalising Of Off-track Betting

Rec. 10 p.m. NEW YORK, Aug 13. The New York County Grand Jury, which has been investigating charges of bribery paid by bookmakers to the police, to-day recommended the New York State to legalise off-track betting and license bookmakers. The Grand Jury urged that its investigation be continued for another six months, and stated: “We cannot help but take notice of a widespread feeling that the Police Department is in concert with bookmakers, is accepting graft from them and protecting them in their activities.” (The New York police were recently ordered to make a drive against illegal betting activities, but the New York Sun says the arrests in the first week were below the average arrested throughout 1946.)

The Grand Jury said that if thisfeeling were the true situation, if allowed to continue “ it could result only in the complete demoralisation of the entire Police Department and in the end destroy, the very fabric of municipal government.” . The Grand Jury said that in the first seven years of parimutuel betting the New York State received abou* 128,000,000 dollars in racing revenue. The amounts wagered reached the ehormous total of nearly 2,000,000,000 dollars. Those figures gave only a slight idea of the magnitude of the amounts wagered on horse racing, lor they included only legal betting at the tracks. The Grand Jury estimated that the off-track betting was thrice as large as the legitimate betting, and proposed that the State should end all betting either on or off, the track or be consistent and permit citizens to place bets whether at the track or on their jobs. The Grand Jury said that bookmakers mostly paid no income tax, no licence fees, and gave no revenue benefit to the State. Referring to the law permitting parimutuel betting, the Grand Jury said that if the State believed that racetrack betting would “promote agriculture generally and an improvement in the breeding of horses,” then that alleged beneficial purpose would be promoted by legalising off-track betting also.” The Mayor of New York city, Mr William O’Dwyer, interviewed, said that off-track betting would be “ bad for the public.”