SYDNEY BOOKMAKER HAS BIG LOSSES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 231, 19 December 1927, Page 1

SYDNEY BOOKMAKER HAS BIG LOSSES

SMILES ON THE AORANGI Although a Sydney bookmaker recently lost £36.000 in two bets, he is not downhearted. Mr. J. Hackett, who bashfully remarked on board the Aorangi this morning that he was reputed to be the biggest bookmaker in Sydney, was all smiles, despite the loss of the small fortune mentioned above. He is on his way to Honolulu, where he will spend Christmas with his wife and family, and forget about his reduced bank account. “Yes, I lost the money all right,” he said, “but it’s all in the game. I laid the owner of Murillo, Mr. E. A. Donnelly, £25,000 to £I,OOO in the Metropolitan, and he won. My other bet was with Mr Ted Moss, owner of Vaals, which won the Epsom. I bet him £15,000 to £SOO, but Vaals got home.” Mr. Hackett mentioned that only one New Zealander has ever won a large sum from him, and that was when a horse from the Dominion won the Melbourne Cup. On that occasion he laid a bet of £II,OOO to £330 with the owner, but the New Zealander carried off the “swag.” “Yes, I think there is a bit of a slump on the racecourse in Sydney,” said Mr. Hackett. “When the money is not there it is a fairly good indication that business generally is not as good as usual. •But it will wear off,” he said with a chuckle. “This new Government has saved New South Wales.”