MODERN BETTING ILLUSTRATED, ETC. 205 



footman was apprehended on suspicion, but his 

 master, saying it could not possibly be he who 

 stole the jewels, declined to prosecute. Happily 

 for the lady whose gems had been purloined, 

 her husband won his big bet, and she was 

 able to shine in a newly bought suite of 

 diamonds. 



A history of the rise and progress of betting 

 would be full of interest. It takes two, and occa- 

 sionally more than two, persons to make a bet, 

 and, as has been indicated in a previous page, 

 in the earlier days of horse-racing the amounts 

 betted on both sides were usually deposited, or 

 in racing argot the money in dispute was " staked," 

 in the hands of a third party till the event betted 

 upon could be decided. No data exists to show 

 when the professional bookmaker as we know him 

 came upon the scene ; but it may be taken for 

 granted that the " penciller " was not evolved at 

 once, but that the system grew by means of what 

 it fed on, originating, doubtless, in the practice 

 adopted by certain gentlemen who, having made a 

 series of bets, were anxious in consequence to get 

 " round," as the process of hedging is called, or, 

 in other words, to be in a position not to lose 

 their money, or, to put the matter still more 

 explicitly, to possess a fair chance of winning 

 something and losing nothing. At the beginning 

 of racing, and for a considerable time thereafter, 

 what little betting occurred took place chiefly on 

 the racecourses ; but as time elapsed several men 

 distinguished themselves, or, at least, became 

 notorious, as " betting men," both giving and 

 taking the odds all round, and accepting the odium 



