Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1896-12-01
BooKIE CHATS.
About Different Kinds Of Patrons
Tho Glass Mos Profitable.

The Glass Mos. Profitable.
There was a prominent book
maker in the city the other day,
and, meeting Star man, he grew
quite communicative. Said the
knight of chalk and states:
People have an idea that the
races can be beat, but they are dead
wrong, my boy. I've been in the
business long enough to discover
that, but you can't beat it into the
crowd we live on.
Nov, that seems queer, don't itH
coming from a man at the mercy of
the talent. But it amt queer. Not
a bit of it. People don't realize, for
instance, that 'bookie' who runs
what we call legitimate book can
always keep ahead of the game.
But it's 80, just the same, and as q
'bookie can always tell from O.
glance at his sheet just what he'll
have to pay out, no matter how the
horses finish, all he has to do is TO
equalize his books. All the horses
can't win, you know, and by cutting
down the odds on this one, running
them up on that one, refusing any
more of the stuff on another, and 80
on, he can always get enough Of the
money in his box to more than Offset
what he'll have to pay out. And
that, too, as ! said, no matter how
the horses run.
Another thing people are wrong
about is this: They believe the
'bookies' live on the big bettors-
the plungers. But they are dead
wrong again. The small bettors are
the fellows who provide the dough
for US. The fellows who bet five
and ten dollars and even less.
Those are the suckers we play for,
and If it wasn't for them we wouldn't
be in it, They are the stuff we're
always looking for. But the most
chumps of the lot are the fellows
who've been caught by striking
long shot. They're forever looking
for another, and that's ere we
live. See2
1T amt the long shots that hurt
the 'bookies, for we generally pay
little out when one Of that kind
takes the stuff. 1t is the favorites
that hurt us. But when a long shot
wins there amt much of what we
pay out but what comes back to us.
For the chump that wins one of 'em
imagines that you can't stop him
from picking 'em up right along, and
he becomes easier than ever. So, in
a little while not only is the stuff he
pulled out on the long shot in the
bookies' boxes again, but also about
everything else he can rake and
scrape up.
81 tell you about the only fellow
who beats this game is the one who
plays only once In awhile. The duck
who gets it straight and then goes
down the line on it. He's the mug
who does us, and he's the chap who
generally sticks to our stuff for |
keeps. But the dead easy stuff is
the ohump who goes up agin' us day |
in and day out and in about every
race on the card. He's up to-day
and down tomorrow, and it amt a
Long while before he finds that there
are a slight more to-morrows than
else In the game. Then
be drops out, but the chumps make
q big field, and when one goes to the
stable another goes to the post, and
the game goes on.
but the game amt what it used
10 be. Not much. No, it amt be-
cause folks are getting any too good,
but because the stuff amt so fire.
luent. Then, too, the fish don't
rise 50 quickly. Either that or
there amt 80 many of 'em now. No,
The pickings now is small, and, be-
tween you and me, the business Is
going to the dogs. Tough, amt it?"
-Wac Rim 0tnr 'Gtavr