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Off -Track Betting Proposal Presented at Open Hearing Inventor Booker Is on Hand As Wicks Presides in Joint Legislative Session at Spa By BOB HORWOOD Staff Correspondent SARATOGA, Saratoga Springs, N. Y., Aug. 26. A detailed proposal for the operation of an off -track betting system, largely through the facilities of Western Union, was presented at an open hearing of the joint legislative committee to study horse racing, held in the Hall of Springs at Saratoga Spa this morning. Senate majority leader Arthur H. Wicks presided over the hearing, which was attended by the full committee, with the exception of assemblyman W. J. Reid, who recently suffered an accident. The proposed plan for off-course betting, known as the Suburban Pari-Mutuel System was first brought to the attention of the Wicks Committee by its inventor, Howard E. Booker, of Palo Alto, Calif., at an open hearing held in New York last December. At that time Booker was asked to return at a later date with specific plans and figures, which he did today. Booker identified himself to the committee as a Californian who has spent most of his life in Europe and the Far East and operated pari-mutuel systems at dog tracks and Jai Alai games in Shanghai, China, Barcelona, Spain, and Brussels, Belgium. He is currently president of the Compania Oriental Mexicano, an iron ore concern. Booker said that he was also associated with the inauguration of the pari-mutuel urbain system of off -track betting, which was introduced, in Prance in 1932 and is still functioning successfully. In introducing Booker and his associates, John Egan, attorney for the Wicks Committee, said that the Suburban Pari-Mutuel System was the only specific plan for off-track betting presented. He said that it was in some respect similar to the proposals outlined by Herbert Bayard Swope last year, but differed radically in its cost figures and contrasted sharply with estimates of costs pf operation suggested by Ashley Trimble Cole, chairman of the New York State Racing Commission. Egan said that the detailed report submitted today had been prepared largely by Robert E. Maclntyre, with the assistance of Western Union officials. Hall, May Associates Egan also mentioned as associates of Booker, Edward E. Hall, whom he identified as president of the OCedar Mop Co., and Richard A. May, who later identified himself as former president of the American Chamber of Commerce of Japan, and president of the Allied Merchants Associa- : tion of Tokyo, as well as having been an official in the Department of Commerce and active in the reconstruction of Japan under Gen. Douglas McArthur. Booker said that his plan for off-track betting called for the division of New York : State into eight zones, in which there would be a total of 139 betting offices 1 which would be open from 7:00 a. m. to 1 7:00 p. m. Eighty-one of these offices would be in the Metropolitan area, with 58 others in the seven zones throughout the state. The operating company would receive 2 per cent of the "take," with the balance going to the state and racing associations. Booker said that betting offices would be kept away from residential areas. Following the hearing, Egan said that he was quite sure that most of the proposed offices would be in existing Western Union officies, adding that it was obvious that Booker and his associates were closely affiliated in some way with the telegraph and cable company. Egan also read from the report, a statement that "Howard E. Booker and his associates are fully prepared to launch, finance and adequately maintain this system if it is approved by the legislature." The committees attorney also listed the following financial references, which were later confirmed by May and Maclntyre: Guaranty Trust Co. and National City Bank, of New York; Bank of America, San Francisco; Morgan, Harjes and Co., of France, and the Wall Street firm of Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Bean. Maclntyre, who said that he had been associated with Booker for 25 years, and had spent most of his time for the past two years in developing the Suburban Pari-Mutuel System, described the plan in detail, in response to Egans questioning. Offices Off Beaten Path Of the eight zones, the Metropolitan area would -be Zone 1, Maclntyre said, with 46 offices in Manhattan, 20 in Brooklyn, four in the Bronx, three in Long Island City and Flushing, two in Jamaica, and one : : 1 1 each in Jackson Heights, Freeport, Hempstead, Mineola, Rockville Center and Valley Stream. Offices would be off the beaten path, in quest of low rents. Each zone is to include eight control points, to which wagers are relayed from local offices by teletype, and from which they are sent to the race track. Mclntyre said that wagering on each race would cease one hour before the scheduled post time, while the wagers would be transmitted to the track not later than 45 minutes before post time. The off-track wagering would be posted on a special board at the track, then included on the tote board immediately after the morning line. Basing his estimate on the total on-track wagering at the New York tracks in 1952, Maclntyre estimated that the gross income to the Suburban Pari-Mutuel System at 2 per cent would be ,641,852, with a net income, before taxes, of ,797,316. Federal and state taxes, however, are estimated to be almost 80 per cent. Maclntyre and May both said that the exact 1952 on-track wagering total of approximately 83,000,-000 was taken as an estimate of anticipated business as sound business procedure, but Continued on Page Forty-Four Proposal for Off -Track Betting in Open Hearing Wicks Presides at Legislative Session; Inventor Is Present Continued from Page Fye both said that most estimates of off -track wagering volume ran far higher. A break-down of the operating figures of the system gave the annual operating cost of the 139 units as ,844,534, of which ,229,930 is budgeted for Western Union charges, while 00,000 is allowed for annual office rental. Maclntyre said that the cost per unit, during the seven months it would be in operation, would be ,565 per office. The cost per office during the five idle months was estimated at ,575. While an average figure of 00 per month was set for rent, it was pointed out that there would be a considerable variation between offices in downtown Manhattan and up-state locales, for example. There is a similar variation in Western Union charges, which range from ,368.34 per month for each unit in Zone 1, down to 82 per unit in the zone centering on Rochester. In addition to Senator Wicks, the hearing was attended by Senators Harry Gittleson, George T. Manning and Henry Neddo, and assemblymen Theodore Hill, Jr. and J. Sidney Levine.- The committeemen had few questions to ask of the three exponents of the Suburban Pari-Mutuel System. Senator Levine was concerned that the proposed locations of offices in Brooklyn were largely in poor, even sub-standard neighborhoods. Maclntyre replied that the locations selected were subject to change, and had been chosen to some extent in answer to Levines fears, expressed in December, that betting offices would be opened in areas where there are no existing horse players and would thus raise a moral issue by spreading wagering. Assebyman Hill asked Maclntyre if. he believed that doubling the amount of legalized wagering was socially or economically a good thing. Maclntyre replied that he believed that legalized off -track betting was simply applying controls to something which already existed and diverting some of the benefits of wagering to the proper channels. He added that he could now place a bet in any hotel in the Metropolitan area. Senator Gittleson asked Booker if he didnt think that the placing of betting offices in industrial and business areas would cause absenteeism. Booker said that that had not been the case in France, where the system has been in operation for more than 20 years. He. also said that the system could not accept bets on out-of-state tracks, but declared that he did not,believe that the bookmakers would find sufficient profit in such betting to make their operation profitable. The Californian added a warning that the present high tax on betting in New York state was driving bettors to tracks in other states. It was emphasized by all three of Suburb- an Pari-Mutuels proponents that there would be no congregating of bettors, no results would be available at the offices and there would be no continuous betting, with players collecting on one race and betting the next through the day. They would, as in France, enter the office, collect the previous days winnings, if any, make their wagers and leave. Todays hearing was attended by a small audience, including Francis P. Dunne, Carleton F. Burke, Harry Millar representing Mr. Cole and Lou Walger. The latter, who is director of pari-mutuels on the New York tracks, and at Santa Anita, took notes throughout the proceedings. While none of the committeemen expressed any definite opinions, pro or con, they listened, attentively and, apparently, receptively as the detailed program was outlined, even studying the photographs of Western Union equipment with care. At the conclusion of Maclntyres testimony, Egan read into the record a. lengthy telegram from the Western Union official in charge of private wires, confirming the accuracy of the figures relating to that companys charges in the report, with due J allowance for possible variation in installa- I " tion charges.
