Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-01
LARGE SUNS
ARE WAGERED
RACE TRACK GAMBLING REACHES
HIGH FIGURE
BIG PROFITS FOR BookIEs IN
SUCKER PLAY
Gates, Drake and other Plunsers Are
in the Public Eye, but Theirs
Is Piker Play by Coma
parison

At a time when gambling in every
other form is being bitterly assailed.
when railroad manipulation OF the kind
practiced by e. H. Hartman is being
the subject of national legislation, when
Wall street is under bitter fire and the
powers are trying to find a way to deal
with Monte Carlo, gambling on horse
racing has reached this year its highest
figures in the history Of the game In the
United States.
Never have sums so great been wag-
cred on the tracks OF New York, Wash
ington, New Orleans, Los Angeles and
other places where law permits the pub
lie to be separated from its dollars on
the chance Of which horse shall finish
first.
The figures are astounding. More
money three times as much, In fact, Is
bet on racing every year in this country
as constitutes Uncle Sam's 100000, 600
gold reserve.
Three hundred million dollars every
year! 1t is six times as much as con-
gress felt necessary to vote to President
Mckinley to carry the Spanish war to
successful conclusion OF this huge
sum $50000,00O in round numbers makes
up the profit of the bookmakers those
who handle betting at the tracks, and
| the booksellers, who maintain rooms
where the dear public can lose its cash
without the time trouble and expense
| of going to the track where the races are
| being run.
In many states of the Union betting on
| the races has been prohibited, with the
result that once prosperous tracks are
being overgrown with weeds. This Is no.
| tably the case in places like New Jersey,
where the act of legislature ended the
career of the noted Gloucester track, and
in Missouri, where Governor Folk put an
end to the gambling carnival.
| But the fact that horses cannot race
| in state by no means stops gambling.
| The telephone and telegraph are ever at
| the call of the professional gambler and
| that public which is always ready to be
| his victim.
| 1t is safe to say, without trace of ex-
1 aggeration, that money was wagered on
| the outcome of the Suburban, Brooklyn
and Metropolitan handicaps in every state
of the United States, and that after New
York state, Illinois, thousand miles
away, wagered more money than any of
its sister commonwealth on who should
win these big events.
Despite the often expressed admiration
of the public for the noblest of animals
the horse-racing could not exist without
gambling.
The public hears mainly of the big bet
tors, the men like James r. Keepe, John
| w. Gates, John, A. Drake, the Belmonts,
| Whitney, men who wager and lose hum
dred thousand dollars without so much
as changing color.
| But these world famous gamesters are
really pikers compared to some of the
smaller fry, who line the rails of the Held
stands at the big tracks. Here are clerks,
mechanics and minor employees, who.
stirred by the heat of gaming. have risked
a weeks wages, a months wages, money
| that belongs to wives and children, or
cash perhaps filched or embezzled from an
employer on the chance that in that
| plunging mass of thoroughbreds the one
they have picked will manage to survive
accidents, overcome his feet rivals and
| land first.
| There are more than 1900 racing days to
a season in this country, and 100000 adj
missions are paid at the gate. Twenty
thousand men and boys, including owners.
trainers, breeders, Jockeys, stable boys
and the army of betting men, devote
| themselves directly to the racing game
| the year round. The victims-those who
pay the freight, number about 8,000,000-
The percentage of bettors who are in
| dependent and can afford to lose without
serious consequences is not one in
| thousand.
| The profits of the bookmakers and pool
sellers are astounding. Ordinarily they
run into several hundred per cent. 1t is
nothing for big New York firm of pool
sellers to clear 100000 in the seven months
of racing permitted In New York. This
is the net result after cash has been paid
for all expenses, including police protec-
ton. Perhaps the firm is made up Of two
or three men, which means anywhere
from $33, 900 to $4,000 apiece for few
hours work daily.
This money comes from the people, the
L. .l..r -
ing ahead on their salaries, and who.
lured by the hope of quick returns, take
a chance in that form of gambling, whose
inevitable end is theft, embezzlement.
forgery. drunkenness. disloyalty to the
wife and home, and in extreme cases,
even suicide or murder.
-eser---
,0rEEv ,ADAt ntccttecEe