RACING IN AMERICA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2320, 18 August 1898, Page 31

RACING IN AMERICA.

►Some of the American proprietary cluba do not seem to care to what lengths they gdt' in order to avoid a probable loss over a racef meeting. This is the period, say 3 the Spiii§ of the Times, when the bookmaking forces ars pretty well split up and scattered, there beiag so many meetings going on at the same time* Well, some clubs have to suffer more or lesdi in consequence, with a paucity of books in Ihg ring, and conditions of that kind have broug'itf into play what is known as the "syndicate" 1 style of betting. It is in the nature of thing* unpopular, and last fall, when a big syndicate? mogul, and a track owner as- well, was asked why such a plan was resorted to, he promptly replied: "What would you have us do? When it is only too plain that financial loss stare? \is in the face, something has to be doiiey and the remedy is found in adjusting the bet* ting odds in our favour. We- club owners areexpected to push the game along-, help thd horse owners and others to make a living, and[ is it not asking too much of us to do all thie| with the certainty of a loss to ourselves? r lhe( new plan may be unpopular, and may havef its drawbacks, but then it is the best that presents itself under the conditions named." 'lha syndicate plan amounts to this: A combination or syndicate purchases tho betting privileges from this or that club, paying probanfy enough to insure the club from loss, or suggesting a profit. Then, instead of there being' legitimate competition in the betting ring, the syndicate gets in its work in the way ofi ironclad odds, all the pencillers following in the wake of what may be called a bookie beltwether. The speculator has to take the edda offered him— or not bet at all. In that way the syndicate makes a profit, the club comes out all right, while the public, of course, foo£ the bills. Or, in the absence of a syndicata betting lessee, a club may adopt the syndicate plan, which amounts to the same thing asl far as the public are concerned. It is a bodi scheme as affecting the betting publio, fcufi then, as one of the club magnates remarked^ should racing clubs be expected to run theii? meetings at a loss?