TOTALISATORS AND SWEEPS. 55 



" Take tlie other side of the question. If I take 

 £200 to £20 about my horse from a bookmaker, I know- 

 exactly the amount I have to draw if it wins. I can 

 tell my friends I fancy my horse, because, no matter 

 how much they put on him, I have ray £200 to £20 to 

 draw if he wins/^ 



This is, I think, a reasonable way of regarding the 

 matter. 



The totalisator is a great help to a struggling race 

 club. In Brisbane ten p'?r cent, was deducted from 

 the amount invested, and if £10,000 went through 

 the machine, as it often did, the club drew a 

 thousand of it. I hardly think they receive so much 

 now, as the Government claims a share of it. 'If 

 totalisators were used at Flemington and Eandwick, 

 the Y. R. C. and the A. J. C. would take many thou- 

 sands of pounds in percentages. This money, if 

 added to the stakes to be run for, might induce the 

 majority of owners to regard the machine with more 

 favour. 



Personally, I prefer the old-fashioned system to the 

 totalisator. I do not think, excepting in rare cases of 

 rank outsiders winning, the totalisator returns better 

 odds than the bookmakers. In the case of favourites 

 1 am sure it does not. 



Some big dividends^ as much as £200 for a pound 

 are declared; but these are the exception and not 

 the rule. I do not pretend to say that in the case of 



