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Of f a -Track Betting Proposal Rapped Strub, Mackenzie, McCarty 5 Take Stand of Vigorous Opposition to Measure SANTA ANITA PARK, Arcadia, Calif., ZD June 7.— When asked for statements re-garding action that has been taken toward the legalizing of off-track betting on thor-Q oughbred racing the attorney generals u3 office recently authorized circulation of an q initiative petition for the proposed amend-ixi ment to the state constitution, Dr. Charles £t H. Strub, executive vice-president of the .. Los Angeles Turf Club, J. F. Mackenzie, 2 vice-president and general manager of the S£ Hollywood Turf Club, and Walter G. Mc-u. Carty, president of the California Breeders Association, issued the following: fn DR. STRUB: "Los Angeles Turf Club — takes a stand of vigorous opposition to off-~ track wagering. This is in accord with a e£ resolution adopted by the Thoroughbred v_ Racing Associations, representing 35 lead-_j ing American tracks. - "Thoroughbred Racing Associations has Q set forth the serious moral and economic issue involved. A definite distinction is to be made between betting at the track and thereby participating in the contest and betting with an off-track agency solely for the sake of gambling. Convenient to Those Who Cannot Afford It "Thoroughbred Racing Associations points out that legalized off-course betting would make betting dangerously convenient to hundreds of thousands of people who cannot afford it." J. F. MACKENZIE: "Thoroughbred racing is one of the worlds oldest and finest sports. The right to wager on the outcome of a contest by those attending has long been recognized as a just and proper privilege. Approximately half of our states now license pari-mutuel racing with the great bulk of the profits of conducting racing going back to the people through the taxes collected for the state. "The Hollywood Turf Club is in complete accord with the opinion of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of the United States, representing 35 major race tracks, that legalized off -track betting would lead to excesses which would soon kill a fine sport. * "Thus, rather than receive the huge amounts that proponents of off-course betting assert in their fantastic claims would go to the state, our state would soon have none of the millions it how receives from racing revenue." WALTER G. McCARTY: "The breeding of thoroughbred horses and the sport of thoroughbred racing are very closely allied, for the testing grounds -of the thoroughbred is the race track. Off-course betting would certainly kill racing as a sport and, if racing is destroyed, the great breeding industry that has been built up in California would be driven from the state."
