A Slump in Betting

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 40, 10 May 1927, Page 8

A Slump in Betting

Racing Clubs Reduce Stakes

When a racing club is compelled by financial stress to make a drastic cut in the prize money in such time honoured events as the Grand National Hurdles and Steeples, then it is obvious that affairs appertaining to the sport of kings are by no means what they appear to be on the surface. The Canterbury Jockey Club has at last been forced to reduce its stakes, and this sporting body is not alone in being driven to such measures. It is a reflex of the country s finances that practically every racing and trotting club in the Dominion is up against it.

ijPHE cause of this state of affairs is the decreased revenue which the clubs receive through the serious falling off in totalisator revenue, and the fact that the Government still demands its full share of taxation. So that while clubs are losing money, the Government insists on its pound of flesh. That is a grievance clubs have against the Government, and on the face of it they certainly appear to have just cause for complaint. In the boom times of a few years ago there was plenty of money for legalised gambling, as well as for American motor-cars, but afterwards the reaction set in with a vengeance, until to-day many clubs do not handle 50 per cent, of the totalisator investments recorded a few years before. This loss is more prevalent in the lower part of the North Island and in Otago, Canterbury and West Coast districts of the South Island, which do not seem to be so fortunate as the Auckland Province and the extreme south. Probably the average decrease in the Auckland Province is not more than 10 per cent, as compared with last year, so that on the whole Auckland racegoers have succeeded in holding their end up very well. SOUTH HARD HIT In the top portion of the South Island the totalisator drop must be in the vicinity of 33 1-3 per cent, for the past 12 months. It is a matter of opinion whether this is a satisfactory state of affairs, or otherwise. Perhaps there is too much money expended on horse racing in New Zealand, but it can be said without fear of contradiction that decreased returns over the last seven years have not been brought about by a revival of the anti-gambling and anti-racing spirit. Far from it. The gambling craze is as popular as ever, and it must find a safe outlet. Racing gives it.

The prosperity of horse racing is dependent upon the financial strength of the Dominion. At the present juncture racing and trotting clubs are in a state of vassalage to the Government, for no matter how much a club loses on a race meeting, it must pay

full tribute to a voracious Treasury. Such a state of affairs is what one might reasonably expect under the old feudatory system, but not in these supposedly enlightened -times. The taxes fall very heavily on the clubs, as the controlling authorities of the various race gatherings, and yet it is the racegoer who does the actual paying. The owner of a racehorse speedy enough to get into the money has to pay too; for instance, the sportsman who won the last Auckland Cup was called upon to contribute £lO5 by way of tax, and so too did the owners of the second and third horses have to pay pro rata. THE RACEGOER PAYS Then the racegoer who bets pays heavily for the doubtful privilege of using the only legally recognised gambling machine the totalisator. From every pound he invests is deducted approximately three shillings, and, if the hacker succeeds in the quest for a dividend, he is taxed once more, this time to the extent of five per cent. None can cavil at the club taking its share of the original investment, for it is from this money that the stakes are provided for. It all goes hack. With he Government portion, it is good-bye so far as racing is concerned. It savours very much of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, with all due deference to backers. Relief from the burden of his heavy taxation is sought by every racing and trotting club; some have already gone under, and many others have their hacks to the wall in their last, struggle for preservation against the strangle hold of taxation. On the other hand, the Government wants more money, and in the present state of the country it is not prepared to let up on the strangulation policy of bleeding every racing club, big and small, rich and poor. The Great War is still being paid for, hence the War Tax on dividends. In the meantime, the clubs that control racing and trotting are entitled to some sympathy and consideration for the difficult situation in which they now find themselves. —A: de C. T.