TOTALISATOR COMMISSION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 254, 26 April 1912, Page 5

TOTALISATOR COMMISSION

BOOKMAKERS' EVIDENCE. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright Sydney, April 25. Giving evidence before the Totalisator Commission, Sol Green, bookmaker, said he thought the totalisator would deteriorate thoroughbred breeding. The best mares were not bought in New Zealand, where the totalisator existed. If the New Zealand horses sent here to be sold had been bred in New South Wales or Victoria they could not hava been bought at any price. As a bookmaker, he absolutely favored the totalisator, provided the proprietary clubs got nothing out of it. As a horse-breeder he was certainly opposed to it. His betting turnover was about £300,000 yearly. He made a sporting offer that if 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 newspaper Sun, in his evidence, said he approved of the totalisator, because it was the best method of betting, but considered that 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, and that the amount of betting at these meetings was about six millions. The totalisator would make for purer racing. He saw no objection to women betting.