The Cordova daily times., 1921-07-11
USE MUTUELS
 TODODCE TAX ON WINNINGS
BY WILL COOK
Qnteruational News Service)

periods for the French Governments coffers for it is during this period that the largest sums of the year are played on horses. The state draws II per cent of the money played in the pari-mutuel booths or the official betting stalls established on all tracks It is estimated that on ordinary week days as much as three million francs is played at tho races.
 On days when there are important races to be decided this amount runs very much bigger, as for instance on Grand Prix day when some four hun dred thousand people gather at Long champs to watch the biggest race in France. Last year fourteen million francs were played on this race alone and the days takings amounted toI more than twenty million francs.
 But apart from these official booths there are secret means of playing races without going on the tracks. l Such bets are taken by so-caled book makers all over France and in some towns such at Paris. Lyons, Bordeaux and Marseilles. the money played in this clandestine way is said to greatly l excel the money played on the tracks. | Naturally the government cannot col | lcCt II per cent on these bets. Nnm | erous attempts have been made to run these "bookes" to earth, but with | little success for the simple reason that in most cases bets are made on a mutual understanding of confidence l between the players and the "bOOkieS.' No traces of bets are to be found eX. cept those made in the smaller and | popular bars of the capital, where | slips are exchanged.
 Bookmaking was abolished in France | in 1905 in favor of the official pari- mutuel booth With these booths no odds are given out on horses prior to the race and the returns are only | known after the race and after the deduction of the states II per cent. | The horse who carries the omst money in bets pays out the least if he wins. | The bar type of books" pays out the same sum as the official returns, 1 whereas the old type "bookie' who ! still operates on the tracks despite police supervision continues to give odds before the race.
 The latter will ony deal with per sons known to him. He will often give odds of three-to-one against a horse whereas the parimutuel returns will show odds of three to one on the same horse.
 The bar "bookie" will sometimes take in large shops and offices as well as bars and if he has prosperous quarter to work in he usually has a large staff of bookeepers who, at night when the results are known check up his slips. He will start in the morning at about eight and go around 10 factories or shops and there take the bets of the employees and sometimes the employers as well Then he will drift into hairdresser's shops and collect slips and money from them. From there he will visit all his" cafes and bars and collect more slips and money. He will take any amount from one franc twenty to two or three thousands franc.
 At the pari-mutuel booth there Is no maximum limit to betting but nothing Iess than five francs can be played The bookie generally refuses to take any tips after one-thirty-racing be- gins at two-and in the case of out siders winning he will not pay out more than one hundrer and fifty francs for every five invested. Some times he will go to the races and by playing himself try to protect his own money, but in most cases book1es are usually satisfied to wait till the night to see how they have come out. f, is rare that they lose and they more often finish the day with net gain or eight to ten thousand francs than otherwise.
 Such clandestinc bets have so much | worried the government that special ,aws were passed to deal with both bookies and players. but they have yielded little results and the author ities now are contemplating the open ing of official pari-mutuel booths in all large cities where one might play fancied horses and where the gov
 ernment could collect its share of II