The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-05
STATE IS BOOKMAKER.
French Government Will Take Bets on
 Horse Races.

Paris Correspondent In the Kansas City
 Journal
 Paris may soon have another gay instl- tuition to add to it's other attractions. A deputy M. Rouby of Corrieze, has cour- ageously come forward and laid bill before the committee of the Chamber of Deputies for establishing the pari-mutuel all over Paris. What is the pari-mutuel? :? It is the official betting institution on race courses. known in other countries as the totalizer The way the system is worked in France is both picturesque and profitable On every race course there are scores of little booths planted in rows. In these booths, at Longchamp or Auteul, for instance, there are two men who deal out to the public little square tickets properly punched and stamped. bearing the number of each horse. As soon as the numbers of the horses before each race are posted upon the boards the crowd rushes for the booths and buys as many tickets as each one wants of the number corre- spending to his horse The tickets cost S1 in the polouse and S2 in the pesage, whether it is for win or for place. As soon as the race starts bell rings and the booths are instantly closed. When the race Is over the number of the win ming horse Is pasted up, and of course, only the slips of paper corresponding to the winners number are worth anything. The speculation then is what the lucky holders of the winning number will get for their slips of paper. It may be any thing from $2 up to $200 according as the winner was a great favorite or an extreme outsider. The result is only known after the entire number of tick cts sold at the booths had been ealcu- lated. This is why the pari-mutuel else where has been called the totalsator. The calculation is very rapidly made and usually in five or ten minutes after the race is posted up the tickets of the winning number are paid, while those of the losers are scattered over the field by their unlucky holders, who, however, if they have another coin left, will try their luck again in the following race.
 In the course of the past year the state has increased it's profits from the official betting booths by $l0,000000. The profits result from the fact that the parl-mutuel Is an official monopoly and the state de- ducts s per cent from all the money it handles. It also explains the reason why it is tolerated by the authorities. On the one hand the government finds 1t pro- life source of revenue, and on the other Parisians are delighted at the chance of combining gambling, sport and taxes all in one There has hitherto been only one inconvenience and that is no betting could be done off the field, at least openly. In order to have the pleasure of doing so one had to go in person to the booths of the par-mutuel inside the race course, and no provision was made for betting in the city. However, in spite of this, a large traffic has been going on constantly in Paris cafes and bars and so-called bookmakers have been conducting a thriving trade in secret, accepting bets from any one willing to take the risk and paying according to the result of the pari-mutuel. So much of this clan destine betting has been going on that 1t is calculated that the former bookmakers deprive the state of revenue varying from $1OOOO,0O0 to $20,00OOOo.