“MONEY TO BURN”

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3892, 21 April 1937, Page 10

“MONEY TO BURN”

PUNTER AND HIS BETS. Sentenced at Chertsey, Surrey, recently, to six months’ hard labour for obtaining £lOO from a bookmaker false pretences, George Arthur Davis, described as a professional punter, of Virginia Water, is a little man with a big personality. Among the prosiac statements made in court, for instance, were that he had entertained with champagne, liqueurs and cigars, and endeavoured “to create an atmosphere of wealth” by having his bets recorded in newspapers, offered £lO,OOO each for wto gryehounds; and lost the biggest cash bet ever recorded for a dog race at Wimbledon, and paid over the money “like chicken-feed.”

Always immaculately dressed and describing himself as an ex-jockey who had , done, most of his riding abroad for a well. - known German nobleman. Davis made a point of cultivating the acquaintance of the leading owners and trainers on London dog tracks.

HiS smallness of stature and his slim Build supported his claim to have been a jockey, while his lavish entertaining and heavy wagering soon made him an outstanding figure. Within a few weeks he was accepted as a man of wealth and standing, while his habit of settling up his looses immediately added to his reputation. His bets were usually in hundreds of pounds, occasionally in thousands.

Apart from spectacular wagers in November, when he lost £990 on Wattle Bark and a week later won £l4OO to £2600 on Safe Rock, he had big accounts with several bookmakers. With one man alone his bets amounted to nearly £3OOO within a few days. His offers of £lO,OOO each for two greyhounds were made for Fine Jubilee. winner of the Greyhound Derby, and for Ataxy, another classic winner. At tht time he did not own any greyhounds but stated he wanted to buy them 'for his wife. When asked about these offers during the court proceedings, he admitted that at the time he made them he had only a little over £lOO in his banking account, but added that if the offers had been accepted, he would have obtained the money. “One night Davis had a bet of £2OO with a well-known bookmaker. When the dog lost he went straight up to the bookmaker and gave him a. cheque remarking that he never liked to owe even until the next day. Later the same evening he worn £4OO on one bet from the same man, and collected it straightway in cash. “By this time he considered himself so well-established that he asked one or two of the largest and best-known bookmakers to give him credit of £lOOO each.

“Even then nobody knew who he was or where he had come from. He appeared to be on excelelnt terms with well-known people, and apparently had money to burn. Finally complaint arose about his betting transactions ,and the Chertsey prosecution followed.