THE PROFITS OF THE TOTAL ISATOR.

Thames Star, Volume XVI, Issue 5082, 1 May 1885, Page 2

THE PROFITS OF THE TOTAL ISATOR .

The races bjye left 'us*prbstrate; sijs.: the Dunedin correspondent of a cpontrjr paper. ::J^|^ee;; i d^yß';v;.^xci^meni i -:iißtt--:;: ..■ gambling arg rathe? much of ?a good thing. Everybody:'-cbmpfajiis A of losing money, * which is notto Ije wondered at, considering tha^^out of; say-five thousand people the Jockey Club; made y£3Boo/ in three V days by;-that great " instUu^ 1 tion, the tptalisator. It is simply legalised robbery, that is /all. I hate said|*-five " thousand, -i but rekly not^ more '- thaa^jtwp' r thousand probably patronised the totalita* tor. :p.n^:';the.v.^urie4i^iojap';.^ ~ ojet --'ibpO'- irivestbrsV-^^'febs--almost : :yc^rces^of^pe^e;.^ut^ri-:^£^'olr;^ eachi and'maDy £2 andf^ .man who 'puts on r £^Q&hts( tq pay £1 v; for the^^ privilege; ten per cent., is , far too high v a The Jockey Club plucks:its pigeons far tod quickly/ , The totalisator is wrongly named, at least so long as iticbllaira" 10 per cienjt;; <;Jt ought ;^ to be called the gigantic grab-all; or, ar an up-country oddity chnstetied it, " the reaper and the bindeir:'' ; One man took 80 tickets; on one horse in the Hack Kace. Perhaps it did riot strike him, but he was making the jockey Club a present bf< £8. Another man, I was vtold; put £600 / through the machine on the last day of the .various raises: His. contributipn to . the funds was^£6si^ It is, of cburleii?ery ;hard,to get al; thei mpunt:M nwney ao< i tually oh the course for investment. On & the Cup, on which most^ was invested, the '■lorn* - was: J;bver;k£^to^|Excepi;||fi4po'3v: (not a bad haul for;one race) tfts-of, course goes back again amongst the public, , and gets invested over again. Allow a good margin, and say .there double this sum in people's pockets for speoola-'" .tio vn;"thai;is:.£§Qdo;'';Well.«at;;tKe 'eld;of"----three days the. Jockey' Club! had; almost exactly half of it. And Btill people cannot • see' hbw^'•.■it is that everybody lbsit'mbney. The wonder would be; if, anyone; woa any. . The fact ;s, 10 per cent is altogether top high a commission; 5 would be ample, or indeed S|. Atjthe .latter ,i»te:^,Club; would hare got over £900, arid this would far moro than clear expenses, at well aa :; pay interest on the cost of the machines.