The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-08
BOoKMAkING AT WINTER TRACKS.
Daily Expenses Greater In Frisco Than
In the East

The expenses of bookmakers operating
this winter in San Francisco are much
heavier than on the local tracks In the
East bookmaker pays s57 day for badges
for himself and employees. and incidentally
for space in the betting ring. In Frisco
his daily fee is $3.50 with SO day to his
| ticket writer and sheetwriter and SIS TO his
| blookman and cashier But there is more
business at the Frisco tracks just now than
at Los Angeles or New Orleans, and the
books there are in clover.
The richest layers who are quoting the
odds at Frisco are Joe Rose and John Con-
| don, the blind man who owns the Harlem
| track in Chicago Rose is handling from
/ $4,000 to $4,000 a day and is conducting a
| genuine big Store" affair. Condor pays
$500 day for the Textbook privilege. which
involves the speculation OF all the one-dollar
| pikers. II the favorites win Condon's book
| gets the money, as the one-dollar players
| go after long shots exclusively. But IL they
| lose il is another story. English Bill
| Jackman ID another big bookmaker on the
! Coast and 80 IL Bob Lloyd. There is an
average of thirty books at work each day.
More layers are in line at New Orleans
than ever before. The other day thirty
| three OF them weighed in. a record breaking
number. But there are only handful OF
big operators. including Barney Schneider
Steve L'Hommedieu and one or two others
While money is plentiful there are few big
plungers on the ground, barring the book
makers themselves. At Los Angeles there
are twenty books in line with a fair amount
of business for all OF them When Essex
Park Hot Springs. is under full Roadway
there will be a similar number Of pencillers
on the blocks
Yet combining the daily business at all
OF these winter tracks, the aggregate amount
will not compare TO the volume Of business
conducted In single afternoon at one of
the big Eastern tracks, Bookmakers who
have visited these winter tracks say that
money is comparatively scarce when the
liberal wagers of a metropolitan race track
crowd are taken into consideration.
Give me the East all the timel' said
well known bookmaker at the Hoffman
House the other day "l'll venture TO say
that on big race DAYS and holidays last
season | handled more money in a single
afternoon than any of the books at the
winter tracks take in during whole week.
1t stands TO reason that crowd of 10000
persons at an Eastern track. not counting
Saturdays and other big days, will have
more money to speculate with than the
usual crowd Of 800 or 5000 persons who
patroni1e these winter tracks from day TO
day Books operated in the East have
the big plungers like Gates, Drake, Thomas.
Wheelock johnson and others in their
have nobody who will bet on si.. lar lines
The racegong public here is decidedly
more prosperous. too. You will find many
ordinary citizens who think nothing OF bet
ting 500 TO a race, while at New Orleans
or Los Angeles some ofthe books will not
take 500 wager That is quite difference.
but 1t ia true. nevertheless. | think this
year will sen Gn increase in the business,
too The ~aUing puDt' IS growing wiser
each season, and when the local campaign
sets in | believs tie BOOKS will be fairly
overrun,'
barney ScEreiber. 10y me way intends
% race again on the loca. tracks after an
r ABSENCE Of several wears. Schneider is
fcr1iliar with all branches Of the turf. He
IS no, only wealthy bookmaker but he
is breeder of thoroughbreds on a large
scale. He has more than a hundred brood
mares and ten stations at his Woodlands
Farm in Kentucky. Among the stations
are Sain, Bannockburn and Balgowan.
who have sent many winners TO the races.
Schneider has fifty two-yearolds in train
ing. together with thirty horses OF other
ages. and he will bring the best of them
to this part Of the country in the spring.