TOTALiSATOR VERSUS BOOKMAKER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1036, 27 April 1912, Page 3

TOTALiSATOR VERSUS BOOKMAKER.

Sydney, April 25

Examined by the totalisator Commission, Mr Sol Green, bookmaker, thought that the totalisator would deteriorate thoroughbred breeding. The best mares were not bought in New Zealand, where the totalisator existed. If New Zealand horses sent here to be sold had been bred in New South Wales or Victoria, they could not have been bought at any price. As a bookmaker he absolutely favoured the totalisator, providing the proprietary clubs got nothing out of it. As a horse-breeder he certainly opposed the machine. His betting turnover was about yearly, and he made a sporting offer that it the Government would guarantee him 5 per cent, on his turnover, he would give 3 per cent, of it to charity. The sporting editor of the Sydney Sun approved the totalisator, because it was the best method of betting, but the bookmakers should be allowed to compete with the machine for the good of the game. He estimated that 925,000 people annually attended race meetings round Sydney, The amount of betting at these meetings was about ,£6,000,000. The totalisator would make for purer racing. He saw no objection to women betting.