STRAIGHT TIPS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 841, 9 December 1929, Page 11

STRAIGHT TIPS

Betting By Telegraph Officers PAST EXPOSURES RECALLED A LTHOUGH a telegraphist may i occasionally make use of information contained in racing telegrams, sometimes winning, but often losing, money, the supervision by the departmental officials is so strict, and the natural shrewdness of the bookmaker so keen, that the dice are effectively loaded against him. The recent betting episode in the Post Office is by no means a new development. History is but repeating itself, and similar outcrops here and there are now and then recorded, and may be expected to recur at any time, said a retired telegraph officer to a Sun man. The postal authorities are fully aware that the propensity to gamble on horse-racing is just as great in the average telegraphist as in the average human being, notwithstanding the fact that he is hedged around with endless restrictions, oaths of secrecy, and searching scrutiny. His temptations are great, because his calling brings him into close touch with the secrets of the sport as they are telegraphed daily by the inner circle of the racing brotherhood. In the racing season hundreds of tips are telegraphed, many of course in cipher. Jockeys, owners, and others behind the scenes all want their their friends at a distance to know the “good things” which augur profitable investments, and what is more natural than that the telegraphist should take advantage of any information that comes his way? He soon learns to discriminate between reliable and doubtful messages, because even jockeys and others supposed to be in the know are sometimes mistaken, and the experienced telegraphist has learned that it is the owners’ messages that carry most weight. OATH OF SECRECY If he makes use of information thus gained without disclosing it to others, he is safe, because his oath of secrecy is not violated. Ever since the introduction -of the telegraph, cases have occurred where telegraphists have won considerable sums—and lost them, too —by acting on information thus gained, and the authorities are unable to stop it. Where the unwary operator falls is when he telephones his bet from the office, the office telephone being tapped by inspectors, who listen in from another room in the building. Rigid as the departmental regulations are in regard to betting, there have been cases where marked ingenuity has been exercised in evading them. A few years ago, in a southern city, a certain telegraph employee enjoyed a phenomenal but brief run of success in backing horses with a wellknown firm of bookmakers. Being shrewd men, they became suspicious. For some time it was a case of Greek meeting Greek. The punter was carefully watched, but he was never on duty on race days. He just meandered up and down the street in front of the telegraph office, making an occasional bolt to the bookmaker’s office, to back a winner every time. The bookmakers were nonplussed, but one day the man on the watch happened to look at one of the upstair windows in the post office. What he saw was another telegraph official inside the window, upon which he marked certain figures. The figures were very l'aint and indistinct. The official was* using soap, but his accomplice outside knew that the figures denoted the number of the winning horse, the result having just been received by wire. Both men were soon looking for another job. AN INGENIOUS METHOD Another ingenious method of getting rich quickly was employed by a counter clerk and another man, who may be called Smith for convenience. It was in the days when telegraph offices were open on racecourses. Immediately a race was run, Smith’s job was to lodge a telegram to a bookmaker in the city backing the winner. The clerk behind the counter would time it as having been accepted prior to the race. If, for instance, the race was advertised to start at 3.30 p.m., the telegram would be timed 3.25 p.m. Although suspicions were aroused, the pair succeeded in eluding detection for many months, and between them they bled several bookmakers pretty freely. At length the bookmakers combined, in hiring a spy, who, in shabby attire, presenting a down-and-out appearance, stationed himself inside the telegraph office. Here he noticed Mr. Smith regularly lodging his messages after the finish of each race. He took careful notes of the time each message was presented, and the upshot was the arrest of both conspirators, resulting in & Supreme Court case. Smith managed to escape punishment, but the counter clerk was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, Involving, of course, his dismissal from the service. Such cases, however, are rare, and on the whole the public has every reason to rely on the general integrity of the New Zealand post and telegraph service.