DEMAND BY PUBLIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27357, 5 April 1950, Page 6

DEMAND BY PUBLIC

Practical Off-course Betting Scheme TASK FOR GOVERNMENT The report that the off-course betting scheme as presented by the Racing and Trotting Conferences may be unworkable has aroused the interest of racing enthusiasts in Dunedin. Many of them say that the vote in the Referendum last* year was overwhelmingly in favour of some form of off-course betting, and that it is the responsibility of the Government to bring into operation a scheme by which people may make investments on outside meetings. The majority of people are not in favour of bookmakers being licensed and would prefer the money going right to the course. It is difficult to devise any scheme which would not require several hundred people to work it satisfactorily. To start with, the cost of acquiring suitable buildings and the payment of high salaries and wages would greatly reduce the profits which clubs hope to' make as a result of off-course betting. The cost would be borne by racing and trotting clubs and it would probably take many years -for them to recoup their initial outlay. , The Minister of’lnternal Affairs, Mr -Bodkin, was reported last week as saying: “I have nqt accepted or rejected it,” when replying to a rumour that the scheme had been shelved. He is expected to have further discussions with the two racing conferences, but it is predicted in some quarters that there is not much likelihood of any great progress. In the meantime, bookmakers in Dunedin are understood to be reaping a harvest. Towards the end of last year the Sportsmen's Association, a body which looked after the interests of bookmakers, was disbanded and nearly all of its members retired from the arena for a few weeks, and a number of them have not come back into operation. During the Christmas and New Year holidays it was extremely difficult to place a bet on an outside meeting in Dunedin, although a few of the “ small men ” were still operating. During the past two and a-half months a few of the bigger operators have come out of “retirement” and a number of “ smaller men ” have worked up thriving businesses. Doubles charts are again in circulation, but the odds on winning combinations have been far below the dividends paid on the course. It is reported that a considerable amount of northern money is being “laid off” in Dunedin, as there are fewer bookmakers in business in most of the bigger towns than formerly, a number of operators having heeded warnings by magistrates that they would face terms of imprisonment if they appeared before the Court again. At present the “ business as usual ” sign is up in Dunedin and any person wishing to make an investment at an outside meeting has little difficulty in finding a taker. The bookmaker is regarded by many as an “unfortunate necessity,” and it is to be hoped that some scheme will be brought into action to tap the estimated £20,000,000 that was handled each year through illegal channels past.