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New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IV, Issue 204, 21 June 1894, Page 4

Then there is the question of liability of investors on the totalisator on horses which win races and are then disqualified on technical grounds. Cases have occurred, and are constantly cropping up, in which a certain horse wins and is then disqualified, in which case of course the stakes go to the second horse. Investors on the disqualified horse then clamour for a return of their money, but stewards cannot listen to them, as the rules of the totalisator, which are incorporated with the Rules of Racing, distinctly state that dividends follow stakes. It is certainly hard on backers of the disqualified horse not to refund their money. One of the most fundamental of the laws of betting says “ in all bets there must be a possibility to win when the bet is made; you cannot lose when you cannot win.” This is just the position of backers when they put their money on a horse that is not elegible for the race. Clubs invite the public to bet by using the totalisator, and when one sees a horse numbered on the machine he takes it as a fair assumption that he must have a chance of winning. In this respect the rules of the totalisator stand in sad need of amendment.