Drastic Changes

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 274, 9 February 1928, Page 14

Drastic Changes

TOTALISATOR IN ENGLAND

Jockey Club in Favour

A T A MEETING OF THE JOCKEY CLUB (ENGLAND), HEED IN THE FIRST SPRING WEEK AT NEWMARKET, IT WAS DECIDED THAT THE COMMITTEE FORMED ORIGINALLY TO INQUIRE INTO THE EFFECT OF THE BETTING TAX ON RACING SHOULD FURTHER “INSTITUTE WITHOUT DELAY AN INQUIRY INTO THE MEANS BY WHICH BETTING MAY BEST BE MADE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE MAINTENANCE OF SPORT, AND REPORT TO THE CLUB”

TN the above style the special committee of the Jockey Club commences its report, which concludes with a strong recommendation in favour of the totalisator, The British Government is to be approached with a view to getting the Betting Act revised so as to legalise the totalisator. There are so many sides to betting as ruling in the Old Country entirely un» known in this Dominion, and they are carefully dealt with in this report. With so much that is of interest to New Zealanders figuring in the report, it is reproduced in extenso. It is worth recording that one of the witnesses who appeared before the special committeee last month was Mr. R. M. McDonald, honorary totalisator steward of the Canterbury Jockey Club, New Zealand. The report reads as follows: The Legal Position * Before submitting our report we think it well to state what we understand to be the present legal position in regard to betting as it affects the r matter we have to report upon. Betting is not in itself illegal, but . becomes so if it is carried on under : certain conditions. Betting is not illegal on a racecourse, either for ready money or on credit, unless it is carried on in such a way as to involve the | creation of a house, office, room, or other “place” within the meaning of the Gaming Act of 1853. If that is done the owners of the racecourses ar'e liable to prosecution for “opening, . keeping or using a place for the purpose of betting,” and bookmakers and backers are liable to prosecution as I being persons using the same for the purpose of betting. There are two ways in which betting may be made to contribute to the maintenance of sport: (a) By charging bookmakers a fee for the privilege of making a book on the racecourse, and (b) By means of the pari-mutuel or totalisator. Systems in Other Countries Turning to foreign countries, and to the Dominions and Colonies, for guidance in our inquiries, we found that there appears, as has been said above, to be two, and only two, ways of raising revenue through betting. These are by the setting up of the totalisator ( or ~ari-mutuel) on racecourses, or by imposing a licence fee on bookmakers attending’ race meetings, either at a flat rate, or in accordance with the ring they frequent, or the position which they occupy in that ring. In Calcutta, only a limited number of bookmakers (18 to 20) are allowed, and these pay heavy licence fees, -up to £BO a day on important race days. A similar system is in vogue in South Africa. These two systems are adopted either singly or side by side in practically every country except Great Britain and Ireland. Pari-Mutuel, or Totalisator These are often spoken of as distinct systems, but really involve the same principle, i.e., the establishment of a number of booths where people wishing to back a horse pay in their money and receive in exchange a ticket; all the money received is divided among the backers of the winner or placed horses in proportion to the amount invested —less a specified percentage which is deducted to pay the tax, the expenses of the pari-mutuel or “tote,” and the contribution to the maintenance of the sport. The establishment of this system of betting would involve considerable expense, and probably some alteration “lay-out” of the ground in the neighbourhood of the stands on our courses, and some time must elapse before it could be brought into operation. It would also involve a complete change in the method in which racegoers have been accustomed to bet. Theoretically Only It can be brought into operation , alone—as has been done (theoretically) ] in France, New Zealand, etc., or in conjunction with bookmaking—as has been done in Belgium, West Australia, j parts of India, South Africa, and else- j where. _ j The pari-mutuel has been in opera- i tion in France for many years, and 1 members of the club are no doubt > familiar with it. ( The totalisator has been in use in j parts of Australia, New Zealand, India, ; North and South America, etc., * for some time. It is a development ‘ of the pari-mutuel system unefer which, by means of a machine worked electrically, all bets are immediately 1 recorded on a conveniently placed j board, or boards. The advantage of j the totalisator system is that, instead J of the return payable on any horse 1 being unknown until the totals from all the booths are collected after the bet- > ting closes, as happens with the pari- * mutuel, there is a running total of the < amount in the pool and of the amount 1 invested on each horse, which enables i backers to judge approximately of the t rate of odds current when they make their bet. The payment of winnings is much quicker under this system than under the pari-mutuel. The machine which does this is expensive, the expense being regulated by the s scale on which the system is in- j stalled. Experience of these Systems In ascertaining what measure of sue- * cess had resulted from the use of * these systems in other countries, we 1 received from all sides glowing ac- 1 counts of the enormous benefits which accrue to racing from the percentages £ deducted from the turnover of the totalisator and, in India particularly, * from the licence fees of bookmakers; 5 but in Australia. New Zealand, India ] (Calcutta and Bombay), and in France, \ we found the laws governing betting J entirely opposed to the laws in force £ here. In Calcutta, under the Bengal £ Betting Act. betting outside a race- t course is illegal, and racecourses under r the control of the Calcutta Turf Club i are actually specified in the Act as c the only places on which the totalisator is allowed, and on which bookmakers licensed by the club may carry on their s bqsiness. In New Zealand also betting by bookmakers is illegal, but licences are given , to racecourses to run a totalisator on i condition that 25 per cent, is deducted ( for the Government, and 7J per cent. J (making 10 per cent, in all) is deducted for the improvement of racing and the , stakes. i In France the only form of betting ( allowed is that done through the J machine, although it is well known that there are bookmakers who carry < on a secret and illicit business. < Bringing in Large Revenues ( In all the countries mentioned where < betting is illegal and the totalisator is ( permitted, the bulk of the money has < to find its way through the totalisator. J where it is taxed without difficulty, and ( very large revenues are collected. One < could not arrive at even an approxi- ( mate estimate of what the turnover of ] the totalisator would be in Great Bri- J tain, because the machine would be ( competing not only with a mass of ( bookmakers on the course, but also with < i all the startine: orice betting: awav H

- from the racecourse, which, according - to evidence given before the Select s Committee of the House of Commons, i constituted at least nine-tenths of all i betting. i A further advantage of an entirely - different nature is claimed for these systems of betting to which we think s considerable importance should be at- „ tached. e The licensing of bookmakers by the racing authorities in India carries with t it the right to inspect all books; this - gves the authorities such facilities for t tracing improper betting transactions b as are unknown in this country; and s since the totalisator bets mechanically ’. it does not lend itself to the practice r of making money out of horses which. r for one reason or another, are known as “dead” in the market. Witnesses from abroad who gave evidence before us said that these dual systems had had a marked effect in re--3 ducing dishonest practices on their ■ courses. 5 The Totalisator If the totalisator is to be given a fair t chance on English racecourses, it would seem that course bookmakers would have to pay taxes and fees apr. proximately equivalent in amount to the deductions made from the money ; passing through the totalisator, but subject to allowance for their expenses ; and fo.r a fair working profit, in order I to put the two systems on a level footing;, and the starting price book- ’ makers, who would be outside the [ jurisdiction of the club, would have to j be taxed by the Government to an extent that would place them on terms of equality with the two systems of course-betting. Suitability of Racecourses During our inquiry we have been fortunate enough to have the assistance of Mr. Julius, from Sydney, who is the inventor of the automatic totalisator machine called after him and generally made use of, also of Mr. Wilkinson, totalisator manager of the company which .owns the Julius totalisator machine and now in charge of the erection of a large installation at Longchamps. Mr. Wilkinson was asked, in company with Colonel Wilkinson, our inspector of courses, to visit some of our English racecourses and to advise us whether they considered there would be any great difficulty from a structural or other point of view in installing machines, with their full equipment of power houses, indicator boards, selling and pay-out boxes, on our courses. Their report was to the effect that out of 47 courses, 30 offered no difficulties, 11 offered difficulties which could be got over without much trouble, and that the remaining six present considerable difficulties, which do not, however, appear to be insuperable. In the last category were meetings which, owing to their cramped condition, and to the fact that their stands backed directly on to a public road, had no room for additional buildings, and also some small meetings with only one fixture in the year, and which for that reason might find it difficult to get sufficient return on their outlay. Mr. Wilkinson included Epsom in this category, because when attending the summer meeting he saw an immense crowd apparently uncontrolled and spread over a large area of common land. The committee considers that if power was obtained to enclose more land on the Downs, there would be no reason why Epsom should not be adapted to the system. Newmarket Courses With a view to getting some idea of the cost of installing an up-to-date machine, Mr. Wilkinson was asked to give an estimate for our two courses at Newmarket. As an approximate estimate he gave the costs as £13,000 for the Rowley Mile, and £7,000 for the July Course, not to include buildings. It has been estimated that plain but solid buildings suitable for housing the machinery, etc., would bring the total cost of the two courses up to roughly, from £30,000 to £35,000. The cost to other meetings would, of course, vary in accordance with their size, the number of enclosures, and the attendance to be catered for. It was suggested to the committee that in the case of small meetings, or National Hunt meetings, the pari-mutuel svstem might be substituted for the totalisator machine as is done at small meetings in France and in Australia. In addition to this there is a portable totalisator machine likely to be brought out which might easily fulfil the requirements of the minor meetings. If such a machine were available, the capital expenditure necessary to install the totalisator system at the smaller meetings would probably not exceed £ 3,000 i to £4,000. ! Schemes Submitted to Committee ] Schemes were submitted to the Racecourse Association, and by Mr. Me- 1 Lean, bookmaker, of Glasgow. Both ! schemes were regarded by the com- J mittee as being valuable constructive i proposals, and well worth careful consideration, and for that reason they j are given in detail in the appendix 1 It will be noted that the latter pro- ! vides additional revenue for racing. J without the introduction of the totalisator. . The questions *>f the working of the totalisators, of control of the revenue derived, and of finding capital for the ( initial outlay, appear to us to have so t important a bearing on the whole sub- t ject, that they wi 1 probably entail a s separate and detailed inquiry. We con- i sider, however, that it is essential that c this should all be done by one central, c non-dividend payirg, authority, acting under the directicn of the stewards a of the various au chorities concerned, t

We do not anticipate that there should be any difficulty in raising the necessary capital. Bookmakers Several bookmakers appeared before us as witnesses, both starting price and racecourse bookmakers. It was evident from figures produced that, possibly owing to a general shortage of money, and certainly to the new betting tax, the betting profession was going through difficult times, and it was not unnatural . that, with the effects of a betting tax weighing on them for the first time, they were somewhat reticent in giving the committee information on points which appeared to have as their object the extraction of still more money from betting. To the totalisator system they were opposed—we did not evpect anything else. With the system of licensing bookmakers they were generally in sympathy, chiefly for the reason that it gave the authorities an opportunity of discriminating between the honest and dishonest men in the profession, and perhaps because it gave them in some respects a sounder footing. Big Backers in Favour Bearing in mind the fact that bookmakers were at present crying out against a 2 per cent, tax on turnover, the committee have been attempting to ascertain what amount of licence fee would be equivalent to this tax. It did not appear likely that the Government would accept any scheme which did not bring them at least as much as the 2 per cent, tax, yet if racing also was to benefit further revenue must be obtained. This is provided for in scheme B in the appendix, submitted by Mr. McLean. The professional backers we interviewed seemed generally in favour of the totalisator. In the first part of this report we stated that the introduction pf tne totalisator could only be considered if Parliament was prepared to revise the betting laws. On the extent to which this was done would depend the success of the totalisator scheme. If all other forms of betting were made illegal, as in most other countries, and the totalisator alone allowed, the totalisator in itself would produce a vast income. If betting outside racecourses was made illegal,‘and licence was given to the totalisator and the bookmakers to function on racecourses, they would between them produce quite as large an income. Altering the Law If starting price betting were not made illegal, but was taxed to an extent that would impose a charge on it at least equivalent to what was imposed on racecourse betting, and the Betting Act was altered so as to permit of the use of the totalisator under certain fconditions. and of licensing bookmakers on a graduated scale, the committee believes that revenue would be obtained sufficient to give the Chancellor of the Exchequer as much as he is likely to obtain under the present tax and to provide in addition a considerable and valuable new source of revenue for the sport itself. The committee considers that such a fresh source of revenue would be very valuable at the present moment, as it would enable racecourses to lower the charges now made for admission to their enclosures, thus adjusting the burden of providing the funds necessary for carrying on racing and for improving the comfort and amenity of our racecourses more equitably than can be done at present. The person who oniy wanted to see the sport would pay much less than he now does, but the person who could afford to bet

would contribute in proportion to money he betted. Committee 7 * Finding (18) The committee therefore begs / submit the following as the result of the inquiry they have made into tb? means by which betting may best bmade to contribute to the maintenanc: of the sport: “By obtaining such alteration in the law as would permit—(a) Of the totalisator or parimutuel being installed on racecoorw under the rules of the Jockey Clii or National Hunt Committee, and (b) Of bookmakers on such racecourses and at coursing meeting under the rules of the Nations Coursing Club being charged it* on a graduated scale by the abov*. mentioned racing and comis; authorities.” The committee are of opinion that the two methods mentioned would produce a valuable contribution to tfc* maintenance of sport if they wtrt adopted either separately or in combiration. provided such a tax were inposed on the business of starting pricoffic.es as, after making due alknrure for working expenses, would put th*r on a level footing with the totalizer and racecourse bookmakers. LEGALISING TOTE BILL FOR COMMONS Bjj Cable. — Press Association.—Cop^ngk. LONDON. Tuesday. A single clause Bill has been prepared to legalise the totalisator. Tfc operation of the measure would b« limited to Britain, leaving Norther Ireland to deal with the question locally. The Bill must be introduced by i private member of the House of Coomons and many of them are baDouE? for it in order to increase the chaw 4 of its introduction. There is jection owing to the, fact that them* would not apply to dog-racing. A. 40 N.Z.-Sun. RACING FIXTURES February 9, IL— Dunedin J-C. February 9. 11.— Taranaki J.C. February 9. 11.— Poverty BayT.C. February 11. 13.—Rotorua R-C-February 15-—Clifden R.C. February 16.— Tolaga Bay J.U February 16. 18.— Wanganui J-C. February 18. —Canterbury J.C. February 22. 23.—Gore R-G February 23. 25.—Nelson J.C. February 24, 25.—Woodvilie J.C. February 23.— Waiapu R-C. February 25. 27.—Te Aroha J-G February 29. March I.—Dannevirns nMarch L, 3.— Marlborough B.C. March 3. —Banks Peninsula R-C. March 3, s.—Te Kuitl R-C. March 7.—Opotiki J.C. March 9, 10.—Napier Park R-C. March 10, 12.— Franklin R-C. March 15. 17.— Wellington R-C. Mq#ch 17.—Opunake R-C. March 17. 19.—Ohinemuri J.C. March 21. Otautau R.C. March 21. 22.—Rangltikei R-C. March 23. 24.—Oamaru J.C. March 24.—Bay of Plenty J-C. March 24. 26.— Westport J.C. March 28. 29.— Southland R-C. March 30. 31.— Masterton R.C. March 31.— Whangarei R-C. March 31.—Hororata R-C. April 7.—Tuapeka J.C. April 7, 9.—Wairarapa R.C. April 7. 9. —Fellding J.C. April 7, 9.—Auckland R-C.