OFF-COURSE BETTING TOTAL EQUALS TOTE TURNOVERS

Wanganui Chronicle, 7 March 1947, Page 5

OFF-COURSE BETTING TOTAL EQUALS TOTE TURNOVERS

CLAIM BY DOMINION SPORTSMEN’S ASSOCIATION

(Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 6 “The present volume of off-course betting equals, if it does not exceed, that of totalisator betting, rpid it. is increasing,” said Mr. W. E. Leicester, leading counsel for the Dominion Sportsmen’s Association, when opening the ease for the association before the Gaming Commission to-day.

The legalising of bookmakers for off-course betting was advocated by the association, said Mr. Leicester, submitting that the present gaining laws were inadequate for dealing with this betting. “The real remedy," he went on, “is to be found in the legalisation of bookmakers to permit them to handle off-course betting, subject to conditions as to taxation, as well as under strict supervision and control, and in offices to which the public has no physical access. “Other possible remedies, such as betting shops, licensed bookmakers on courses, increased penalties against bookmakers and bettors, doubles’ totalisator, wiring through Post Offices and totalisator agencies, do not provide an adequate and effective solution.

“To many people indulgence in offcourse betting is a hobby and a substantial interest in life, apart from their every-day work," Mr, Leicester added. “Those who support the present system of off-course betting, illegal though it may be, do not consider it immoral. They lind themselves unable, upon an ethical basis, to draw a distinction between betting on the totalisator and betting with a bookmaker. INTO FAMILY CIRCLE. To-day, the radio broadcasts almost indiscriminately on form and r.’Ang. It is doubtful whether any other sport receives sucli perfect service nor, in the aggregate, more time devoted to it. There are many who consider that, more than the incentive provided by betting facilities, the broadcasting of racing is to be deprecated since it introduced racing and betting matters into the family circle.” Mr. Leicester also drew attention to the racing pages ot newspapers. "It is common knowledge." he added, "that bookmakers are already established and able to cope with the demand without fresh machinery or staff.” No difficulty would be experienced in a change-over from the status of illegal operations to legalised and controlled ones. Unlicensed operators would cease lo exist, or would be reduced to negligible quantity.

“The legalising of bookmakers would bring New Zealand into line with the rest of the British Empire, since there is hardly a place where betting with bookmakers, in some form or other, is not legalised. “It is submitted," Mr. Leicester went on, "that the legalising of the bookmaker will serve to enhance the prestige of the police in this Dominion. The general public is aware Hail a large proportion of owners conduct business with the bookmakers ana failure to prosecute such owners often brings the police into ridicule and contempt. There is no evidence that the

police in their operations against the bookmaker think it necessary to prosecute the large number of persons who are equally to blame with the bookmakers for the disregard of the gaming laws. Off-course bettors are to be found in every section of the community, from the professional classes down to the humblest working man. Legislators, members of the Police Force and detectives, even clergymen, cannot be excluded,” claimed Mr. Leicester.

Mr. Leicester then submitted that the Government should set up a licensing and betting board consisting of a chairman, preferably a stipendiary magistrate, an accountant, representatives ot Racing and Trotting Conferences respectively, and a representative of Hie bookmakers.

This board should be vested with full and complete control of every phase of racing and trotting and wagering, including the issue, supervision, and revocation of betting licences.

The beard should licence one bookmaker to every 3000 of the population.

Licensed • bookmakers should be compelled to write every wager in triplicate on the prescribed form, each original form to be impressed with a one penny tax stamp. Taxation at lite late of 5 per cent, should be paid by the winner of each wager, a bet for a win and a place being treated as two separate wagers. Wiring to the totalisators through pest offices would be unsatisfactory, it was contended, because the Post Office couid not cope with one-quarter of the business which bookmakers transacted; it could not guarantee that a wager would reach the totalisator before the race started: and it would need a multiplicity of telegraph or telephone lines to every racecourse. Neither was a doubles totalisator an answer to lite problem, because it would be used for the most part only by those on the course; it was unattractive lo bettors in that no price was known r.t the time of investment; at.u it would lend to tie up the money ot course bettors. ASSOCIATION’S OBJECT. The Dominion Sportsmen's Association was formed in 1921. added Mr. . Leicester, and its principal object at that time was to have the restrictions on the operation ot bookmakers removeu. For many years the association had supplied racing results to various broadcasting stations, and al least two of the blanches of the association had been supplied with a direct telephone line to a governmental broadcasting studio? The associatlon v.a s also supplying particulars of dividends to another Government Department for dissemination among the troops.