Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-21

| According II the New York Sun some po-
licemen raided a gambling house in the
| Tenderloin. A big safe was in the place
When 1t was opened, under the general
supervision of District Attorney Jerome, it
was found to contain $4,000 in cash.
1t became known later that this money
was the bank rolf of two or three we'll
known bookmakers. The fact was very
generally commented on and many folks
permitted themselves to run away with the
idea that a bookmaker requires very
large amount of money to conduct his BUSH
ness successfully
Some of them do. but more don't.
On the eastern racetracks, those which
are controlled by the Jockey Club, from
Benning to Buffalo. the bookmaking is
carried on under the direction of the Metro
politan Turf Congress, of which George A
| WheeIock is the president. Membership in
this congress is limited at present to 200
members.
OF those 200 members there are probably
fifty who have bank roll of 10000 or
more. The capital of the other $50 ranges
all the way from $500 to 5000.
1t may be said, therefore. that no finance
a bookmaker'S establishment, anywhere
from 500 to $40 900 or $4,000 is necessary.
But if anybody thinks he can win fortune
at making a book on racetrack with only
a hit-or-miss-it knowledge of the business,
he will be quickly and disastrously fooled
1t is probably true that, under ordinary
circumstances, more money can be made
by conducting a book at the racetrack, in
proportion to the capital invested, than in
any so-called legitimate business. But one
must know the ropes.
In the first place, nobody ought ever to
think of becoming a bookmaker unless he
has natural aptitude for mathematics If
- rfEA nc Col, mo n
NAUTICAL incompetent, he'd better leave the
booknakng business alone, unless he is
willing to lose all he puts in. BY this state
ment ii must not be inferred that book
maker must have a definite and specific
knowledge OF differential calculus, of ana
lytical geometry and the binomial theorem
He must. however. be able to juggle with
such figures as he has TO stand up and do
business with in a manner resembling that
of the lightning calculator or the boy
wonder-adding machine.
For instance, the bookmaker chalks up
odds of - to D against a certain horse in a
certain race. A man comes along and wants
to bet 500 at those odds. AT IL to what
amount must the bookmaker lay against
500?
OF course, anybody can sit down and
cipher out, after time, that SAB must be
put up against the bettor's 500. But in a
crowded ring, on Futurity day, for instance,
when nobody expects to get bet down
and come back to the grand stand with
Wuoic oi SiOluSS, uo hoo
time to resort to pencil and paper for the
purpose of determining what amount he
must lay against any amount bettor may
see ut to offer.
he must make his computation in about
a sixtieth part of a second and his sheet
writer must record it, So it happens, there
fore, that a bookmaker must be able to Jug
gle with the figures of his business in light
ning-like style.
1t is saying accredited to one of the
biggest gamblers in the world that the am
bition OF table gambler is to become
bcokmaker and the ambition of the book
maker Is to become the proprietor of
pool rocm and once he owns a pool room,
any other gambling business returns alto