Show BETTING ON HORSE RACES I j The Simple Principle on which the Bookmaker Works J 1 About twenty firms in New York make livings through gratifying the 1 1 desire of a portion of the community to 1 get money without labor by betting on horse races The persons engaged in 1 this benevolent calling are for the most I part welldressed wellfed men possessed pos-sessed of glib tongues and apparently satisfied with themselves Certain of the fraternity wear jewlery as a possible resort on a rainy day but the majority of bookmakers have the appearance of solid business men rather than the birdof prey look To support all this comfort buy all these fashionable clothes and keep Mrs Bookmaker and the little Bookmakers dressed fed and amused requires considerable margin in money after providing for the necessary expenses ex-penses of the business And these expenses ex-penses are by no means light for in addition to the funds to defray car fare hotel bills and the like while attending races at a distance from home with occasional oc-casional subscriptions for the support of pool rooms in large cities and analogous an-alogous expenses comes theserious cost of place in Yd h + o Transact business on the course itself The racing associations asso-ciations and Jockey Club having control of the ground naturally make the best bargains possible In the case of Jerome Park this bargain is made with the Jerome Building Association and a considerable con-siderable portion of the money obtained for rental of the betting stands some 4000 each race day is transferred to the American Jockey Club which is a tenant of the association and forms part of the purses put up for races In addition to the capital required for these purposes the bookmaker must add enough to prepared to meet a run of illlack for though her system is bound to win in the end no system is exempt from mishaps and a succession of out side i losses against which he has laid at large odds may at any time cause him to lose eavily These black days are commorVr in England than in this country coun-try for the English bookmakers are in the habit of giving much larger odds against outside horses than their American Ameri-can brethren Thus in 1866 when Hermit won the Derby he was laid against heavily at 100 to 1 and the effect of his ictory besides ruining the Marquis of Hastings and thus revenging Mr Chaplin Chap-lin for the loss of his fiancee was severely to cripple the betting ring some defaultIng default-Ing and others being entirely cleaned i outBut But with all these drawbacks and expenses ex-penses the business is profitable The ordinary bookmaker is rather a lavish person and to support some twenty of them with their retainers means mulcting mulct-ing the public in a large sum of money each year Probably 200000 is annually contributed by betting men proving that the interests of the public and the bookmakers are opposite and irreconcilable irrecon-cilable The bookmakers would not remain in business if they found it a r losing game The machinery of bookmaking book-making is quite simple and works on I the principle that there being but one winner possible wagering against all the contestant must result in a balance A to profit Suppose all the contestants + are wagered against in equal sums which however is never the case token to-ken the balance on his side the bookmaker book-maker alters the odds as he finds the public desire to place their money For instance if he finds a horse becoming a favorite he rapidly reduces the odds againsthim so as to choke off the betters and force them to place their money on other animals and so limit his possible losses To effect all this requires considerable con-siderable facility with figures combined with an extensive knowledge of horses their capabilities and performances and how these are likely to be affected by changes in the weights carried and other causes In fact as has often been r said of all sorts of irregular trades the coolness patience and quick wit necessary neces-sary to achieve success in them would if otherwise applied produce much more solid results A Considerable proportion of the population t pop-ulation of this country and England are content to contribute liberally year by year to the support of the betting ring m vain attempts to win money where the least forethought would tell them d the odds were hopelessly against them 1C l e |