YEAR'S BETTING TOTAL OVER £22,717,000

Chronicle (Levin), 8 January 1948, Page 6

YEAR'S BETTING TOTAL OVER £22,717,000

^ Totalisator betting in New Zealand in 1947 amounted to £22,717,091, compared with £20,446,157 10s for the 1946 calendar year. Of this total £16,195, 012 was placed last year on 241 days of racing, the comparison for .1946 being £15,028,238 for 143 days. Totalisator betting for trotting meetings last year accountcd for £6,522,079, in _79 days compared with £5,417,919 10s in 56 days in 1946. These figures have been compiled from official sources and newspaper reports. Off-course betting with bookmakers would probably account for at least .another £22,000,000 last year, although it is geuerally coneeded "that some of the money placed with bookmakers reaches the totalisator. However, it is still fair to say that betting last year probably exceeded the | £35, 500, 000 which Mr. Nash expects to derive for 1947-4S from income tax. It also ainounts to more than one-thira of the total estimated revenue of £10S,S60,000 from all taxes for which he budgeted last August. Because of the faet that there are far more small country race meetings than there are trotting meetings, the average totalisator betting on trotting is higher than it is for racing. The average day's betting" for trotting last year ,was £82,558, as. against £67,299 for a single day's racing.