NO BETTING SHOPS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 31, 5 August 1936, Page 15

NO BETTING SHOPS

QUEENSLAND COMMISSION

.The report of the Royal Commission on Racing, officially released from Brisbane a fortnight ago; recommends that there be no licensing of betting shops. Two of the Commissioners, Messrs. T. A. Ferry, and C. J. McCarthy,, made this recommendation, and the Commissioner of Police (Mr. C. J. Carroll), who was the third member of the Commission, made a minority report with the conclusion that facilities should be provided for off-the-course betting.

The principal recommendations are:— That consideration be given to the introduction pf a 2s 6d totalisator for1 the cheaper racecourse enclosures; that the Is betting tax in the paddock enclosure, be reduced to threepence;'and the threepence tax reduced to' one penny, and that the bookmakers pay the reduced, tax; that no reduction/be made in the number of racing dates, namely, 104 a year; that provision be made for severe' penalties in regard to tipsters* advertisements, but newspaper sporting writers' tips be allowed; that publication of pre-post betting odds be strictly prohibited; that representations be made to Federal authorities to prohibit race broadcasts until after the last race; and that conveyance of racing information from the course to the betting shops be prohibited. In his minority report, Mr. Carroll suggests that all race finishes' be photographed by an official photographer, but the plate need not be developed before the' announcement of results unless the finish is close. Also that on the flat a 2s totalisator be established. There is general satisfaction- that there is not to be any: interference with the control of the sport, and reduction of the betting tax will be popular with the public. This tax, the Commissioners considered, had been largely responsible for the fallingoS i in' attendances.