The Profits of the Totalisator.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 98, 28 March 1885, Page 2

The Profits of the Totalisator.

. ". Th e races ., haye , lef fc us prqstratej'l says'the' Dnneain' correspondent ; of a' country paper. "'Three days' excitement and. gambling are rather rauch of a good things Ever>'body ; complains of losing nr.oney, which i;s not to be wondered at, considering that<say 5000 pe< - ple^tb«e Jockey Club made /£3BOO m tlftee days by. that great s Weatiog l.mi. stitution the totalisation It is simply legalised robbery that is all. I I^ave said 5000, but really 'hot more than 2000 probably patronised the totalisator. Qa thfi Dunedin Cup there were ovet'4ooo investors, but i tens--alriiv>st Scores— of people put on £5 or £10 each, and many '£2,and,;£3.. And everym an who puts--on £10 has t o pay £1 for the priviloge. ' The 10 per cant is far too high a charge. iTjip Jockey Club .pluck, their .pigeons far 1 too 1 qhickly 1 . The' totalisator i 9 wrongly named at' least so lbng as it col. ;lars 10 per cent. It ought to be called ! the. ;&tgantic orj aff an up-coiiri- , try oddity has christened it, ' the reaper and bindcT. 1 One man tdoft'eiglity tiiv' ; kets iv the Hack Race. Perhaps it did I not strike him, but he was making the ■ Jockey Clnb a present of £8. Another man, I was told, put £600 through the ; machine on the last day on the various i races. His contributions to the funds •was £60. -It is; of-coH^se, very hard to jget at the am omit of money actually on fthe course fgr investment. . pn the Cup ion whioh most ' was "invested,' the sum* j was £4000. Except £400 (not a bad , n auj\fp.r, one, race) v'thisy-pf course goes iback again amongst the public, and gets j invested over agatoy Allow a good ; margin, and say there was double this I sum m the people /pockets v for "speculajtion, that is £8000. 4Vell, at the end of | the three days the Jockey Q}ub had aljmost exaotly half of ft! And still people canppt 'V^derßtpod^how.viit .is that i everybody lost money. The wonder I woul^ be if anyone won any. The} fact is, 10 per cent, is altogether too high a jcommisßon ; 5 would be ample. or indeed.. ! 2£. At the latter rate, the Clnb would •have got over £900, and r thfa woold-far jmore than clear expenses, as well as pay ' interest on the cost ■of the machines, ' '