The Washington times., 1934-04-09
They're Been Doing 1t
And They'll Keep On
But NOU It's Legal

ea,3r NEW YORK, April 9-Hun.
dreds Of thousands of New York
ers who have been betting on
horse races for the past Is
years will, no doubt, be delighted
to wake up some morning this
-arweek and find they can go on
% betting on horse races. The lower
n. house of the New York State
Legislature =. will pass the Craw
ford bill on Wednesday, and 1t
Is generally understood that Gov
aternor Lehman will sign it.
It is an odd situation if you
know the facts. Not unlike that
- which existed in New York city
:, when prohibition was repealed
For 13 years many places
Is and persons had prospered selling
., liquor, whereupon it became legal
: TO sell liquor, and they promptly
went broke.
- So may it prove with horse
:, racing when the so-called open
r betting law goes into effect-al
: though I, personally, don't know
how it can be any more open
than it has been for a dozen
years past.
- Walked Up to Bookie
II You walked up to your book
!"~-naaker and said:
=. "JOe, what price is Pretty
Patsy?"
~ And Joe replied: Ten to one,' u
t,~or six, two and even," as the
case might have been, and you
wrote out your ticket and handed
1T to him. That was as open az
1.-THE Mall in Central Park, wasn't
7itP
True, there was a touch Of
hocus-pocus about passing actual
money back and forth Casually
.sforth between the customer and
his bookmaker. This generally
consisted of the bookie or his
cashier taking a quick look
around before taking the dough
But he always took it.
-. Under the new law the book
= maker will hold up his program
81 Or slate, so that all who run by
..can read prices. Some did this
!. with the program only, during
r. the oral betting days, too. But
1t was frowned on by the authori-
. ties. I believe the theory was
THAT it looked too much as though
4 somebody might be betting on
the races. I always wondered
-ewhat an officer of the law watch
: ing all those frenzied players
ALPHABETICALLY nobbing some book
maker thought they were doing
borrowing a match?
= No, in actual practice, the
procedure will not be greatly diff
II 9erent than it has been for a
= dozen years. Theoretically the
q business will be strictly cash and
=. carry and, one presumes, that in
theory, every book will be re-
Quired by law to take any bel
! offered.
iI Wants to Be Present
K But want to be present wher
some gent goes galloping up tc
Coley Madden, Billy Koch, Tom
Shaw, Bolo Kennedy, or Mr.. limo
thy j. ,Mara-yes, they tell me
Uncle Tim has put in his bid fol
an easy chair in the clubhouse
= again-with shiny 50-cent pieces
!, and says:
~. "Give me this much on Welsh
- Rarebit at the opening quota
8 ton"
g.. These gentlemen were booking
in the day when a 10, Is. or 20
- thousand dollar bet didn't jar any
body's eye teeth lose, and they
ARE not going to relish any one
two and three dollar speculations
= Moreover, I assume that anybody
who has had good credit With these
commissioners in the past still will
= be able to get credit.
~ But what I have been working
up to in this long-winded pro-
- logue is that here, at last, is the
chance for the racing officials anc
= bookmakerS of New York State tt
- give the fans some horse racing
worthy of the name. Their ex-
,tcuse for long time has been that
~