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PARI-MUTUELS SUCCESSFUL RESULT OF EXPERIMENT UNDERTAKEN IN KENTUCKY GRATIFIES ITS SPONSORS. Racing Organizations in Other Parts of Country Following Load of Kcntuckians and New System Helps Racing. Louisville, Ky., April 14. When Col. Mutt J. Winn. manager of the New Louisville Jockey Club, :iik1 Charles l Grainger, president of th.!it orgauiza-t Ion. in the early spring of 190S, conceived the idea of introducing on the Churchili Downs race course the pari-mutULl uiethod of wagering they demonstrated keen foresight, for the adoption of this system- unquestionably is doing more to fortify, safeguard, and re-establish racing than all other agencies and .Influences combined. Its popularity on the Kentucky tracks is established and its operation meets wilh the approval of those who patronizu the races. Increased patronage has demonstrated to the otlieials of the New Louisville Jockey Club that the system is bolter liked than the bookmakiug method. Following Kentuckys lead, the pari-muluels will soon be in operation in other parts of America. In Colorado a bill has just been passed to legalize this form of betting on the race tracks of that state, while bookmakiug remains under the bun, and the sport Is expected to flourish under the new regime at Denver and other points. The Ontario Jockey Club, whose meetings at the Woodbine. Torouto. are unexcelled for quality and tone, will this season banish the bookmakers in favor of the muluels. and the racing associations of British Columbia will do likewise. Other Canadian racing organizations are likely to follow suit in the near future. It is positively announced that after the coming spring meeting is over there will be no more bookmakiug at the historic Ihnlieo track at Baltimore, Md.. it being the plan of the management to install the mutuels for the fall meeting of the year. Tennessee and Missouri are states where racing lias been suspended for several years in which the pari-mutuols are looked upon as an agency for the re-establishincnt of the sport in the near future. And the same hope is entertained of other states in which ropressionary laws, .aimed i at bookmakiug, have recently been enacted. Parl-niutuol means equal or reciprocal participation by nil tilike. "Pari." a French word, mean equal and "mutuel" means an interchange, division or participation. Thus the public, not the book- maker, makes the odds and the entire amount, of money placed in the various pari-inutuel machines goes into a general pool, from which the -winning-tickets are paid, less a commission of live per cent, deduction by the racing association under authorization of the stale racing commission. The pari-mutnel system is the invention of Joseph Oiler, a Parisian of ingenuity and enterprise. In its infancy it was really conducted as a lottery. At llrst the buyer of a ticket had no opiortunity to select the horse he wanted or use his knowledge of form. On the otlicial program of the races each horse was given n number. These numbers were inscribed on cards. The cards were shaken up in a bug or cylinder, and each holder of a ticket in the pool drew a card. The person who held the number of the winning horse took the pool, less a commission to Ihe ikkiI seller. Although the bettor had no option in the matter of selecting his horse, the system became popular. However, in lime it became necessary to devise a method enabling the bettor to make his own selection and not be dependent upon chance. Thus bookmakiug took a linn hold of the jieoplc, not only abroad, but in America. The bookmaker bail long ago flourished in England, but nowhere else. But in 1802 an English perfumer, who had a little shop on the Boulevard des Capueines, in Paris, inaugurated among his wealthy patrons a plan of betting almost similar to the handbooking of the present day. the only difference being that he made his own odds, and when his book was full or "rounded," so that he would stand to win, no mutter what horse won, the book was closed. In ten years bookmakiug continuously thrived in France. In the meantime Oilers active brain had been busy and in the early 70s the present pari-mutuel machine was introduced to the public. It was brought to America and usnd in New York. Louisville and Cincinnati. Eventually the lKokmaker supplanted the machines. In France, England and America the bookmaker was accused of corrupting the turf. In France. Oiler revived his system under government authorization, which controls it today. Meanwhile crusades against racing commenced in America and the sport and the lritokmaker were driven out of stale after state. .Messrs. Winn and Grainger, alert lo the existence of the growing prejudice against the bookmaker, correctly figured the salvation of the sport with the result that those who viewed its adoption with mis-givings now unqualifiedly indorse it. Today the New Louisville Jockey Club has so Sistcmatizcd the-machines that lo bettors they are as much an accommodation as any ring of bookmakers that ever laid odds in the west.
