BETTING TAX.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 2 June 1923, Page 9

BETTING TAX.

AN ENGLISH SCHEME. TO MULCT THE “BOOKS.” BY CABLE—PRESS ASSN.—COPYRIGHT (Received 9.30 p.ni., June 1.) London, June 1. The Betting Inquiry Committee heard details of a scheme of betting taxation devised by Sir Horace Hamilton, chairman of the Board of Customs, which was calculated to provide £10,000,000 annually. It includes a bookmaker’s license of £lO a year, betting office license of £2O. Books of 100 half-crown tickets for cash betting may be sold at threepence per ticket, while books of 100 10s tickets may be sold at Is per ticket. A tax on cash betting will thus be collected auto-: niatically. Street bookmakers will receive a betting house license upon a certificate from a local authority. Other evidence given showed that the Football Betting Act was a dead letter. The Committee decided to visit Epsom in Derby week and see bow betting was carried on. Hamilton said that women wanting excitement were victimised by touts. They knew nothing about the odds and were told the price of a horse was 4 to. 1, whereas it might really be 10 to 1. Such women would not consult their husbands as they did not wish them to know they were betting. —A. and N.Z. Cable.