Omaha daily bee., 1910-02-06
HANDBOOK BETTING CROWS
New System Has Crippled the Pool
Room Industry.
HASN'T CHECKED SMALL BETTING
Veteran Gambler says Anti-BoOk-
making Law Has Increased Spec
uIntion Among the pix
ing Classes.

ing Glasses.
NEW YORK, Feb. 5.-"Running pool
rooms in the big town is a dead letter"
said a veteran gambler at a cosy table
the other night. There's no money in
'em cause the ooppers won't stand for
'em. and, besides, the handbook guys have
cornered the business. You can't keep a
room for respectable horse players going
a week before the sleuths get wise and
you get the word to close down. But the
handbook fellers are never stopped be-
cause it's hard to get them with the
goods.
There are plenty of big betters around
town in the winter time and they'd give
some first-class rooms a tussle no doubt
If any were open, but these spectators
are always cagy and don't care to take
chances Of being lugged off to a station
house In a patrol wagon. They can get
action, too, in another way. Maybe they
can find a broker who will lay odds against
their wagers, relying upon quotations
printed in newspapers as a basis for set
Element and as this is all very quiet, you
know, there's no fear of trouble.
But pool rooms where odds are posted,
bets in cash are taken and paid and the
hNAdllS VI llb races at the NlllltI lIbChH
are received by telephone or telegraph are
risky places to spend an afternoon in town
and as good cash customers are scarce,
the keepers of these places have either
gone out of business or have decided to
operate rooms in other cities and towns.
"The handbook industry, however, is
growing rapidly. It's an easy game to con-
duct, for it requires no room with a look
out, no clerks and no paraphernalla. Bets
can be taken right out in the street from
men who are known and all settlements
can be made the next day on prices sent
out from the tracks. All the handbook
man has to do is to write down the amount
wogered, the name Of the horse and the
initials of the bettor, and he abbreviates
these things in such a way that If the
coppers should grab his little note book
they couldn't make head nor tail of it and
the would have to be dis
charged because there was no evidence.
Handbook Betting increases.
II am not afraid of being contradicted
when l say that the hand book business
has increased to an alarming degree be-
cause of the anti-betting law in this state.
Do you remember when the race tracks
were running free under the Percy-Gray
law how the field enclosure attracted 10000
men every day who paid 81 to get in and
then wagered all the way from a single
buck to five or ten bones2 1t was argued
by the reformers that these men could not
afford to bet at all and that the existence
of these cheap enclosures at the tracks
was simply an encouragement TO gamble.
Well, the new law killed open bookmaking
and forced the tracks to close up the field
| enclosures as well as the betting rings,
didn't it? And what became of the thou
sands who used to bet a few dollars In the
field? Did they quit the game? Not a
bit of it, Why, they turned to the hand
books of course. 1t was cheaper, too,
cause they saved the dollar admission fee
and were able to bet all the way from %
cents to $40. .,s--. -tH
The hand book guys, therefore, have
been benefited by the new law, for these
persons who were imposed to be betting
beyond their means at the tracks are now
betting with them. There's no racing
going on in this vicinity now. is there?
1t isn't necessary. The winter tracks at
Jacksonville, Tampa. Juarez and Oakland
are all running and they provide plenty of
action. The hand book men will take bets
on horses at any Of the tracks up to a
certain time before the races are called and
they settle on the quotations appearing in
print the next day.
do the hand book men WEIGH? Some Of
the cheap screws run out, naturally; but
those who have an ounce of brains stick 1t
out and settle when they're hard hit,
cause they know in the long run that the
people who are betting with them are not
as smart as the big professionals at the
tracks. Where do these hand hooks operate?
Almost anywhere. You can get a bet down
in cigar stores, saloons, bootblack par
lors, cheap restaurants and hotels II you're
known. But you've got to be introduced
by some responsible guy always, The
streets are popular with some Of these
players, especially in the neighborhood Of
a bulletin board where the results OF the
races are posted as soon as they're run.
Lots of men bet on credit, so that it's a
hard matter to get the evidence. They Just
whisper the name Of a horse to the hand
book Teller and he walks away a few yards
{. jot it down. II cash is bet it is rolled
up in a little ball and showed into the
bookmaker's overcioat pocket. It's done so
quietly that only a sharp-eyed sleuth can
get an idea of what is going on.
Change Base of Operations.
Another thing. The handbook men
never operate i'm the same place more than
two days in succession. They SHIFT around
in a certain neighborhood always giving
the tip where they can be found, so that
in case somebody makes a kick to the cop
pers it's a hard task TO find a culprit.
Governor Hughes hasn't stopped betting
on horse races at all. He's handed a
wallop to the tracks which has made them
suffer heavy losses, but his new law has
simply spread the betting game all over
town. II the tracks could do business on
the old lines again and the field enclosures
were reopened very few of the old guard
would 90 back TO bet at 81 a head cause
the handbooks have got their trade per-
m%anently.
The coppers know all about the hand.
book business, but they can't stop it. II
would take 100000 sleuths to round up al
the handbook men In town and then lega.
evidence would be lacking. After that
there would be the same old game IN some
new places under temporary restriction
until the furry ended. It's different with
the rooms. Once a room is planted and
business gets good the coppeTs can bacl
up a patrol wagon and arrest everybody
II protection is paid it's such a high tariff
that a room can't live. The patronage
while it lasts consists Of wise players WHIT
bet big money and are hard to beat, bu
the soft money OF oIden times doesn't com,