THE TOTALISATOR IN ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 55

THE TOTALISATOR IN ENGLAND.

The totadisator k bexug given -another trial on English, racecourses, bat as its working is not controlled by *!he various clubs, but by private individuals, it is doubtful whether t-he public will take kindly to machine betting under thost conditions. The "Winning Post, in xeSerring to the fact UmA ihe jockey club, after taking legal opinion, had given consent to its working of the total ; sator, says <m English racecourses its use is nothing new, as Richard Dunn and many others, before they ever mode *.- book, earned a ■ Hvi»g. mkth. it The paper quofedVtien continues : '.Whether beating on this principle .Should be permitted to. be, carried on by xoajrathorised persons is .a matter wiich calls 'for serious ocasi«]er*ti«n, for without some <3»eck .the door, raf fraud k bud witfe open. A punter -who places his sovereign, or whatever bis efcalce may., he, -on » eartam Jjorae aooavding to' lias system of .spectfianam, cannot be expected to watoh ail ihe transactions, as pnesTmably he has come to witness the epo.t, and with no one except the proprietors of this instrument handy, Tiothingis «asier than to add * few oumbers to the -winning horse as be- is passing the post. This w*6 a common practice when the totalisator was in every-day -ass on the racecourse in the seventies. Undoubtedly it is a system of betting which should in some v/ay be controlled, for though there aa?e many honest men who are -Likely to embrace the revival of this method, there will, as in every walk of life, be asnon^r their numbers the unscrupulous. Another matter which arises, and that is what tq«s of betting axe to govern the anutuel system? -Two things are certain — the instrument cannot be sued and it cannot pay itt twice over one race. If it is conducted on the principle- of ' all in run or not,' and. pays ' first past the post,' then it is controverting the rules of the- subscription rooms. This it must not do, as no matter what practice the proprietor of the instrument may wish to introduce, it must be subservient (o the exacting laws which govern Turf speculation. Hence, in accordance with the rules, winners could not be paid until 15 minutes after the race w»s- decided for tear of an objection being lodged, and the -■ raising of the ball or flag, which is the signal that ihe ' all right ' has. been 'shouted, wouHI nave nothing to do with, paying the winners. Therefore, to be strictly., correct, the pari-mutuel cannot discharge its liabilities until <a quarter of an hour after the judge has left ihe box. These' ay© considerations for those who contemplate carrying on this business, for if the proprietor is to be heW responsible for the working of the .instrument, he could be called upon to pay over any horse that might get the race in. the event of an objection being lodged within 15 minutae of the decision of the raoe ? according to the rules of betting as they now exist!"