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FOES OF RACING STIRRED UP TAKE A HAND IN THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION BEFORE PARLIAMENT OF CANADA. Report of Counsel for Social Service Council Warns Parliament Against Wilcox Bill — Says Is Designed to Give Monopoly to Existing Tracks. Toronto. Ont., January 27. — W. E. Rnney. K. C. who n pre* nicil the Macs! Reform Association in Hie fight against race tracks before tile Canadian ; irlllfll six years ago. baa issued. :it the re|iiest of tile Soci.il Service- Council of Camilla. :t volumi- iioiis report on race track gambling, which is aafc public becauae of the appeal ami ;it Ottawa of the r:i tag hill which is fathered hy Oliver Wilcox, of South Essex. Mr. Rainy declares the business of race track gambling is "the most profitable in Canada. War contracts are not to be mentioned in the same breath, and even the liijuor business in its palmiest days did not begin u compare." Today. lie says, under the pari-mutuel system, the racing ..-st ciations take a takeoff of about seven per cent "in other words, occupy precisely the position of the keeper of a gambling house or race trick pool room, with this distinction, that the business of the latter is prohibited by the criminal code, while the business of the racing club has been since 1910 expressly protected by the criminal code." Some Ancient History. In that year, 1810, when "what is by courtesy called the Miller bill" was passed, there were five principal race tracks in Ontario and Quobe • linked together as the Canadian Racing Associations. The Ontario Jockey Club, he says, made 8,878 in lidit on an original invested capital of 0,000. or over 3*10 per cent, and the Hamilton Club 0,870 on ,050. or 1.700 per cent. The failure of the Miller bill to pass parliament in its original form is ascribed to three juincipal reasons: 1. A Jockey club income of half .1 million dollars was at stake and a powerful lobby was pat up. _. Kvery jockey club had representatives on the floor of the house. :!. The then minister of justice. A. R. Aylea-worth, made an attack on to- bill which ensured its defeat. "The legislation of 1910 was." says the report, "a distinct victory for the jockey clubs. Theretofore bookmnking on the race tracks had been on the ragged edge of criminality." Adoption of Mutuelc. Following the legislation, the Ontario Jockey Club adopted pari-mutuols. "Thereby it killed two birds with one stone. It eliminated the professional gambler, with his disreputable following, a. id it appropriated to itself that part of the profits of the business which the bookmaker had previously engrossed. Also the pari -mutiit 1 increased the facilities for betting and removed the risk, or perhaps the suspicion, of manipulation of the horses at the instance of the bookmakers, and the doubt of the novice as to wether he would get his money if he won. So the betting on the race tracks now is as safe if you win as the Louisiana lottery used to be" Profits of the Tracks. Increase of the capital of the Ontario Jockey Club to 08,666 meant that a certain family which hail paid ,400 for thirty-four shares of original slock received shares amounting to 1917.sh8,000, from which they have received annual dividends of ,800 Mace 1910. The report claims that the annual profits of the Ontario Jockey Clab were about .0,000 in 1918, and at that average for seven racing seasons the tab had 01,080 cacti year to carry to peat account after paying dividends of 280 per cent. In litlO this rest account was already 87,088. "It is probably well within the mark to say that the profits made by the race-track companies of Ontario alone since the beginning of the war have been a million! dollar* annually, and that the share of those profits going each year to one well-known family has not I . i i h.s than a Barter of that amount. Situation at Windsor. Mr. Rani y refer* to the "innocent little club" in Maiiitoulin. win M charter, be says, was impaired by . M. Orpea oi Toronto, and R. R. Carney, the Keailworta trad. Icing started at Windsor in 1910 by this means. A third track was built there in 1910. "by a New York gentleman named l.rowne. assisted by Hon. Dr. Reatime. but the Hendrie and Qaaaej interest* joined hands to put this latter track out of business, and warned owners who used it that the] would be refused racing privileges elae where." Tl.is latest track is, therefore, "black listed," the report says. Mr. Raneys Conclusions, As compared with five racing clubs and 1-8 racing days in 1910. there are now eight racing clubs in the association, two at Montreal, one at Toronto, i ne at Ottawa, one at Hamilton, ooe at Perl Brie, and two at Windsor. Their program for 1917 covers 111! days. There are also the two new "outlaw" tracks, the Devonshire at Windsor and ThoraclUfe, to be built this year at Toronto, besides Mr. Or-■oal two half-mile- tracks hate. These will account for forty-two more racing days, or 154 in all in this province anil hfoillHal. besides a number of half-mile tracks in Qeebee, so that it is probably well within the mark to say that then- will be in Till 7 twice that volume of betting in these two provinces that there was prior to 1910. Disapproves of Wilcox Bill. The report warns the public against Mr. Wilcoxs latest bill at Ottawa. Is says that Mr. Wilcox In lpc-d kill the- Miller bill, and in 1910 spoke in Mipport of the Hendrie track at Windsor. His bill, which would provide that there can be only fourteen racing d;.ys in any municipality, "is designed, of course, to give- a monopoly to existing tracks." Mr. Raney, however, believes Mr. Wilcox is acting in good faith and in what he believes to ha the public interest. Mr. Raney would make gambling on the racetrack a crime, as did the original Miller bill. He concludes us follows: "I have singled out the gentlemen of the Ontario and Hamilton Jockey Clubs for siiecial iueu-7 ion. because it is tiny who are responsible for the jresc nt state ot the- law. The professional gamblers who are associated with them in the Canadian Racing A-sociations and share in the rake-off bare, of course, no knightly names among them and no influcnc ■ on the floor of parliament. It is a partnership uniijue. alike in its membership and its objects, iu the annals of civilized couutries."
