NEW TOTALISATORS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 636, 12 April 1929, Page 11

NEW TOTALISATORS

INSTALLATION IN ENGLAND 1 AUSTRALIAN TYPE NOT USED y Australian and N.Z. Press Association) I Becd. 12.20 p.m. LONDON, Thurs. I The Betting Control Board has accepted tenders “for the present” from the Lightning Automatic Totalisator, British Automatic Totalisator, Graham Amplion, and fourthly, from the Bell punch and Printing Company, which will install their totalisators on 12 of the leading racecourses, including Newmarket. The first will probably be ready at Hurst Park in August. The Graham Amplion Company state that its tender amounted to £IOO,OOO for a machine worked entirely by electricity. The board’s decision indicates that it considers the totalisators named superior for English purposes to the type used on Australian racecourses, which were also submitted for consideration. It is stated that large sums have been placed with all the firms mentioned, though the actual figures are not announced. An official of Graham Amplion says that the totalisator of the type accepted is not yet in existence. The tender was accepted upon drawings, plans and specifications. It is claimed that electrical opera tion makes the machine simpler and more reliable than the Australian types. It. issues a printed ticket containing the date, the amount of the bet, the horse’s number, and the number of the race. The ticket is printed by merely pressing a button. It is claimed to be entirely foolproof, and is operated by a small staff of mechanics and clerks. The ‘‘Morning Post’s” turf expert says that those who have followed the trend of events are not surprised that the type successfully used in Australia was not accepted for reasons as yet not explained. The board did not favour Sir George Julius’s machine. The proposed machine has not yet been tested, but it must he assumed that the board has secured a model likely to survive a heavy test. The ‘‘Daily Telegraph” states that a lightning automatic totalisator. the invention of an Australian named Ward, has been installed at Victoria Park Racecourse, Sydney.