THE TOTALISATOR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1923, 4 December 1913, Page 11

THE TOTALISATOR.

! OPINION IN AUSTRALIA. "Recent events in the racing world, ■the. increasing domination of the book- ' maker on the turf, and the miserablycontracted odds which backers of horses must- accept if they desire to bet," remarks the .Melbourne "Age," in a recent issue, "havo, stimulated an extraordinary interest in the question of. legalising the totalisator. AVc have received a large number of letters on Mie subject, few of which wo can publish, for the simple reason that the writers cover the same ground with wearisome reiteration. The time for advocacy lias passed, There is a universal feeling amongst racegoers that •the swindling and rascality of racing would bo purified and sport made clean and wholesome if machine betting was allowed, and the bookmaker, with his strident voice and his bodyguard of whisperers and parasites, sent back to honest 'atwur. We havo had recently the most flagrant illustrations of the unfair manner in which the public is treated by tbo bsttiug ring. Tho odds uro fixed ;,not on any principle of mutual investment, hut at tho ea-prico of a- few i leather-lunged metalHcians, wEo, in a race of twenty competitors, have, the 1 brazftn effrontery to bawl out "2 to 1 on the field." "Let us get rid of this raucous iniquity. The public, bv its selection of candidates, should fix the odds automatically. Everybody is convinced si tbo reasonableness and propriety of snWj a demand. The time for talk'and agitation has passed. Expression must MQW bo translated into action. It is useless for tho racing public to iiirmdato our columns with indignant rerooii: stranco and passionate denunciation. Let the people who are really earnest about the totalisator form themselves into an association to make a direct appeal to the Government for this muchneeded reform. Nothing will be done by mere pamphleteering. Tho agitators should get down to business, and have an organisation to push tho matter homo to the powers with whom will rest tbo final settlement of tho question. Is there no member of the Assembly courageous enough to table n motion' for tho legalisation of the totalisator, and have tho subject discussed before the Parliament goes into recess?"