THE BOOKMAKERS' POSITION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2359, 11 May 1899, Page 36

THE BOOKMAKERS' POSITION.

I In Australian colonies where the totalisator exists, says the Australasian, there is a tendency on the part cf clubs to try to eradicate the bookmaker^. Not that the clubs have any moral objection to the bookmaker. j Simply they object to his getting his share ! of profits, which they want for themselves. ' We ha-ve never heard any other reason advanced for the hostility displayed towards the bookmaker in New Zealand. In South Australia betting by bookmakers was abolished by Parliament before the present Totalisator Act was passed. For a long time, however, the bookmakers were allowed to bet in a ring set apart lor the purpose, and the clubs licensed them. This showed that the clubs did not resent the presence of re- , putable men, and it was the Government who ! suddenly stepped in and directed the police to rigorously enforce the provisions of the Betting Act. In Tasmania much the same thing happened, but in West Australia the clubs seem to have taken the initiative. At Canning Park last Saturday such exorbitant fees were asked for the privilege of betting that Uthe bookmakers struck, and small blame to them. The result was more totalisator money for the management, who probably forced fees up in the hope of driving away the bookmakers' opposition. In America there are continual attempts being made to stop betting, but it is not a question of totalisator versus bookmaker. Racing in some of the States has been so overdone that action has been called for, and the simple way of putting down proprietary racing is to prohibit public betting, and thus rob the promoters- of the heavy fees demanded of the bookmakers for betting privileges. In this way Mr Kingston stopped pony racing in South Australia' in a day, and it has never been revived. The Bettms? Act did good work in that case, but we fail to see why a few trustworthy men should not be licensed to bet agains,t the totalizator. They are a convenience to owners of favourites, and also to backers of favourites. They take a risk because they have no chance of getting anything out of outsiders, but they get their compensation in this way. At suburban meetings, where there is no totalisator, long shots seldom win, and we cannot see much chance of an improvement in this respect — at all events, not before we have paid stewards. In South Australia and New Zealand the stakes are always worth winning, and in the totalisator a fair stake can be secured for a small investment. This gives the bookmaker a show — when he is allowed to bet. He cannot lay the outsiders, but he has the chance of an outsider winning, and presenting him with all the money he holds on the race. We do not know how the case stands in New South "Wales, but it looks as though the Victorian bookmakers will not be elbowed out by the totalisator for some time to come. Still, Victoria is not the paradise for bookmakers 'it was. Twenty-five or thirty years ago a few men had a monopoly of the business. Now the survivors of that band have to fight against recruits who are content with smaller profits, and bet liberal odds in comparison with those the bloated squatter of the old days was content to accept.