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INTERESTING INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PARIMUTUELS Lexington Ky August 7 Now that it Is a sure thing that tho pariuiutuels have come to stay there is a great deal of Interest shown all over the country by those Interested in racing plants as to the systemThe workings of the system The parimutuels were tried at Latouia in IflOS and after the meeting ran 20000 behind the gates were closed Two years ago they were again in ¬ stalled and from that time on public Interest has gradually increased anil patronage in proportion The public had confidence in the sport as shown by tho steady increase in the total amount wagered daily dailyTo To hold the interest and confidence of the public the mutucls must be conducted so that there cannot bo the breath of suspicion Suspicion and distrust are the two foes of the betting system It is no wonder that the public was slow in accepting this proposition For years it had been accustomed to wager witli the figures right before them One knew exactly what was due from the bookmaker If the odds did not suit one he did not have to bet betImagine Imagine this plan wiped out and one put in yhere you do not know what you win until the figures are posted The race tracks appreciated the situation and made every effort to avoid error and conduct the letting correctly Mistakes have been made but only in the early days when things were new to the experts who figure out the results resultsSince Since then there has been but one discovery of error and that was at Lexington where a bettor watched the total bet on a horse and when the figures were shown he raised a howl and the mistake was discovered and corrected correctedThat That such things could occur led the Kentucky State Racing Commission to appoint tin inspector whose duty it is to check up everything in con ¬ nect ion with the betting W II Laudemau is the inspector After each race the amounts bet on the various horses straight place and show are posted and the volunteer experts can figure it out themselves themselvesOnce Once in a while you will see in print that tho takeoff in the mutuels for one day was 3000 and that this is equal to fifty bookmakers That is far from correct as tho handling of tho parirnutuel betting system is expensive Say that twenty booths are occupied by ticket sellers Each has a clicker to record the bets on the indicator Thats an item of 300 a day right there Then there will be twenty cashiers thats a couple of hundred and more in salaries These with four experts for money counters four men at the ticket bank a manager and a general bookkeeper compose quite an array of talent Then the tickets cost 100 a day and there are still a couple of board markers and messengers to pay payThe The system has now been well developed and everything moves along with machinelike precision witli hardly a chance for an error to creep in Of course there is still room for improvement and no doubt some genius will conic along and perfect some Inttcr method for taking and recording bets There lias been much of a hue and cry for a totalizator which would show instantaneously every bet recor ¬ ded There is no such machine in use at present There was one in France but it made so many errors that the government discarded it There the pad system is used and every time a l et Is made one of the slips is torn off Over in Australia there is a totalizator but it is said that it hardly fills the bill Germany aud Austria have none and in South America tho parimutucl lx tting places look like roundhouses There are little windows where you make your bets and on the other side are the cashiers On the roof is the totalizator which shows at intervals the amount wagered
