618 HISTORY OF THE 



that ten horses are in the betting, and that W. B. 

 has made a £1000 book on the following terms. 

 Specifying the horses by the first ten letters in the 

 alphabet, he will stand thus at the commencement 

 of the race — 



1000 to 500 (2 to 1) against A 



1000 to 333 (about 3 to 1) ,, B 



1000 to 250 (4tol) „ C 



1000 to 167 (about 6 to 1) „ D 



1000 to 125 (8tol) „ E 



1000 to 100 (10 to 1) ,, F 



1000 to 83 (about 12 to 1) ,, G 



1000 to 70 (about 14 to 1) „ H 



1000 to 50 (20 to 1) „ I 



1000 to 40 (25 to 1) „ J 



" Now, it is obvious that the favorite, A., is the 

 worst horse in the race for W. B. ; and should it 

 win, he clears, after paying £1000., only £218 

 (this sum is made by casting up the amounts won 

 on the others — minus the £1000 he has paid), 

 whereas, should the outsider, I. win, he nets 

 £678 after paying the £1000 to the backers of the 

 successful horse. Supposing that more than the 

 ten ran, and that one of those not mentioned came 

 in first, W. B. would then win every one of his 

 bets, (£1718) — the horses not mentioned being 

 technically termed his 'field.' " 



From this, it will be seen that the correct system 

 to be followed by the " book maker" consists in bet- 

 ting the odds against all the horses in the field, al- 

 ways taking care, however, that he does not bet a 

 larger sum against any one horse that may win, 

 than w^ould be covered by the amount gained on 

 the others which lose. 



But the bettor, in making his book, does not al- 



