The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-17
WILL LIMIT TRACK BETTING.
JOCKEY CLUB TO CUT OUT POOL
ROOM WIRES ALSO.

Talk OF Putting BoOkmaking on the Eng
lish System to Lessen the Play From
Those VINO Can't ARord It-Text Of
slicer Petition TO the Legislature.
Racing on the trac ks Of the Jockey Club
In New York State will undergo some
radical reforms from n betting standpoint
this year as a result Of the crusade at
Albany and an understanding between the
stewards of the Jockey Club and the State
Conference Of Religions, a representative
committee OF which is composed Of the Rev.
DR.. T. r. Slicer, DR.. Josiah Strong, DR..
j. NJ. Wilton and Rabbi Schulman.
Itdeveloped yesterday that in attempting
to make good it's promise to DIR. Slicer and
the State Conference that betting would be
curtailed the Jockey Club had virtually
decided to begin the reform by striking a
direct blow at the poolrooms, to be FOLLOWED
by a move against the betting rings.
It has been conceded all along that with
out the necessary news Of the results OF
the races the poolrooms could not exist.
With this in view it is said that the Jockey
Club will practically bar the wires OF the
telegraph companies from the tracks.
It is held that a racetrack is private
property, and that a telegraph company
has no legal right to set w its instruments
inside of the fences without permission
In resorting to such a radical move the
Jockey Club, it is said, will also attempt
70 keep such information from the outside
world by placing a ban of some sort on the
admission of persons to the track after a
certain hour. For example, after the Sec
ond race each day the gates may be closed
to the public. In that way 1t would be i'm
possible for the poolrooms to secure any in
formation unless they dubbed together and
sent a dozen men into the track enclosure
before the first race, at So a head, with the
idea that they should come out, one at a
time, during the afternoon with reports
OF the betting, jockeys, &c; to be filed
with the telegraph company at an office
near by. And furthermore it is said that
the Pinkertons would receive orders to
refuse admission to any persons detected
in the act Of delivering this sort Of news
20 the wires outside.
BY crippling the poolroom telegraph
service the Jockey Club would in part at
least make good its promise to curtail
speculation. 1t would also land a hard blow
against a poolroom clique, said to be
headed by Peter De Lacy, who has been
openly charged with being one Of the moral
supporters OF the Cassidy-Lansing anti
betting bill now before the Legislature.
De Lacy has played an important part
IN an~ti-racetrack fights for a number OF
years, but his real motive was not disclosed
until yesterday, when several prominent
gamblers who know the man made the
assertion that De Lacy had tried to force
the Jockey Club to concede to him the
exclusive privilege of sending out the news
of the racetracks to the poolrooms Of the
country.
"De Lacy was making a hot fight against
the tracks two years ago" said one OF these
men, when a representative of the Jockey
Club went to see him with the idea Of reach
ing some compromise. De Lacy promptly
declared that if he could get the right to sell
the track information to the poolrooms
all by his lonesome he would stop his
trouble making. But he met with a sharp
rundown from the Jockey Club, and ha
been ignored ever since.
"Supposing the Jockey Club had granted
his demands? Why, De Lacy would have
had a piece OF every poolroom in the country,
for without his consent no room could get
a line Of information
This statement was repeated yesterday
to one of the counsel for the Jockey Club,
WHO Qlu not ubnY H. " /uRu Io teCllHcu W
confirm it. But sporting men here nave
been talking Of the matter for a long time,
declaring that De Lacy's interests are
identical with those of the persons who are
supporting the bill at Albany.
Having dealt De Lacy and, in fact, all
roolroom keepers a knockout blow, there
fore, the Jockey Club, it is declared, will
completely revolutionize the business OF
the betting ring. The Jockey Club, it is
pointed out by one of it's counsel, is opposed
to betting in certain forms. The stewards
nave tried to discourage plungers in their
sensational operations, and only last summer
they crushed the life out Of the bookmakers'
organization, known as the Metropolitan
Turf Association, by declaring an open
betting ring and cutting of all revenue
from the layers In return for special privi-
leges.
But, from what was said on good authority
to The SOL reporter yesterday, the Jockey
Club intends to adopt some plan by which
q man who cannot afford to lose a IS note
will find It impossible to make a bet at the
track. No definite plan has been evolved
as yet, but it is said that the betting ring OF
the future will be a private enclosure, to
which will be admitted fonly those persons
who nave passed muster and have satisfied
certain persons, who may be competent
to pass judgment. that they are qualified,
financially. to suffer a loss.
To restrict the patronage to persons hold
ing special betting privileges, for which no
money would be paid, would require much
work and discrimination, but it has been
suggested that there might be an organiza-
ton to which bookmakers and the patrons
Of racetracks could be admitted alike, a
certificate Of memb ersbip being required
to secure admission to the betting ring.
Under come such plan as this, it Is said,
tho operations in the ring would be strictly
on an individual basis. All spectators
would be members Of the same organiza-
ton, 80 that bets could be made without
memoranda. While it would be impossible
for layers to conduct business without
sheet writer. IL is declared that no money
would pass between player and layer and
that all wagers would be made "on the
nod to be settled way from the track.
Betting without money passing would
be an adoption Of the lime honored method