Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1876 — Gambling by Pools. [ARTICLE]

Gambling by Pools.

New York contains many gamblinghouses, but in the past they have not obtruded themselves on pqblic attention. Recently, however; one form of gambling has become mqre byld and conapicuous, and at the present time there are at lettiif six estahllshmehts in fids city' Whose 'proprietors ppeghr speculation on any event, in the sporting calendars, through “ auctioti pools, J, < “Tarfs mutuals,” and combination mutuals.” Paris mutuals ” are recent inventions. Joseph Oiler, of YanS, well thown fb? many,years at fee,French race,course, introduced them to notice,, and amassed griitt?wealth.by-the'jleibCfittVe * “coni;missionJ?f of. ten -per,-cent. <which he orowi of speculators, aml an eyent which aSforTS! i match, or it may be a race or b dozen horses in Whteh tßljr one *or them may qome out under- fee first- (Th.h System is best explained by, an illustration. Suppose six horses named respectively A, BIO;'D, E and Fare 1 entered for a race. The operators set up a black tin box, with round blank spates like staring eyee cut ?yur pf,whi9h; i» placed a card inscribed A, or B, or C, etc. A J peculator approached, hands to the opertor flwa dollars, and Ways, Give me Q.” ; H* receives A oai ii-colored ticket wife a number prfeted on. it, and pimnUaneously the qperator gives fee indicator a turn, click goto ’ machinery; the .blank eye ' apportioned, to *C gives a wink at fee folly of fee htaman race,- fee figure One appears 1 'therein, and thi young man remarks 5 in' .a philosophicaT monotone, 1 u One' O. ” Another speculator pays his money, and by eye and ear the speculator Is Informed that he has “gone twenty on fouro,” At length febbell for u Startihg fee-: hbrsea sounds, wheat fee pools close, or should close, fee entu» tt«tober«| ; tickets sold being indieach horse reveals fee particulars of tbs pool. Suppose- toatepeehs have sold as follows at five dollars a ticks*:.,. One bnndred tickets on A, eighty„<» B, aixty on tx fprty on p, twenty on B, and ten on F, a,fetal pf 810 tickets, representing |1,550. First, fee operator takes out his percentage, fee amount of which varies. At first Oiler charged ten per cent., but competition in fetl couhta- his reduce* it to five and three. M&kmg fee calculation on ten pe? cent, basis, f 1,550, less 1155, |l,89$ to be divided among fee Kbldere of tickets on fee Winning hdrse. If A wins, each ticket pays $18.99; if B Wins, each ticket payß $17,45; if 0 wins, each ticket pa Vs $38.35; if D wins, each ticket paj's $34 88>if E wins, each ticket payss69.m, and ILF wins, each ticket pays $199.50. The race is over, one of fee horses has won and hia hackers rtUßive fee returns, t The first “(Parts mutual” indicator at Jerome jPark was set up during fee spring meeting of *872. It has been said feat a well-known Wall street broker initiated fee public into its mysteries, and even manipulated fee machine himself. Inter JoEn Chamberlain imported more Indicators, and since feat lUIOT4 : feqy fcavq been carried into a cellar Mi New street,' Jn fee attempt to bring stock speculation within fee reach Of fee flvc-dolfar capitalists; they have attended tmon fee college bbet races until men are declaring feat fee evils accompanying such contests overbalance fee benefits of the athletic training r they have popularized gambling under fee guise of fair-dealing, and they havo got feeir toils abort the rising generation. Night and morning, in the pool-rooms of this city, boys may be seen buying Paris mutuals.

The only argument against bill wa# advanced with bland innocence by the two members from Monmouth County,. who declared that tlie extaW any* pecial weapon forged to destroy poolMeUing at the park. At a critics] moment the chief promoter of the bill Was absent, and to this day “ mutuals” In New t Jersey have been undisturbed by the aetheritics. In New York, the question of the temiHty of the «y*tem has beefi pul to She !«£&“■ The chances of winning at this species of gambling are not regarded as especially promising at the best; but it has been asserted that they ere rendered Ism attractive to experienced persons by tho knowledge that the operator has always the opportunity and not Infrequently the inclination to defraud the winners in the following manner: One of the employee keeps a sharp watch r.pon the race, and when an outsider cornea up the home-stretch an easy winner—an event not of vefy rare occurrence—he qutckly cfaapgee the record of the indicator, taking ten or fifteen from thq number of tickets sold on the favorite, and adding a like number to tbe tickets on the winner. The sum total in the pools appears to be nnchanged, but the value of the winning tickets ia decreased in (fi-

red proportion to the number fraudulently added. : Investor* find their returns out down, while the operators pocket the difference. Take, for instance, toe case mentioned where there are SI,BOO fobs divided among those holding' wfaming tickets. Ten tickets have been sold on F, and to the surprise of all F Wink. The Operator may take five from the nnm- ; ber/wordedfor A and add them to th«e sola on F. There are now fifteen tickets onF, each apparently worth SB3. The ten holders of genuine tickets receive each $93, and the balance of $465 is appropriated by the operator. John E. wisharti, of New York, published a letter in Wilke's SpWit of the Timee on May 10,1875, m which' be mentioned an instance where the “ mutuals ” were sqld oir the -Nashville races, and tickets on Verdigris added as soon as he 'had won the race; Complaints have been made a]so of tbe maoagemenj at Jerome Dark, in the race be-, tween M. H. B. and BhyloCk, Which Was run during the fall, meeting of 1878,Just before John Chamberlain ceased to control the “mutuals” on (hdt‘course. SincC that time Jphn Morrissey haq obtained the franchise, but the complaints have not ceased. On the third day of the spring meeting Lloyd’s colt won, and ticket* on him paid $125 each.. It 4 alleged, that fourteen were added to the record of‘ his tickets on the indicator by one of the opi erators. On the fourth day of the same meeting the colt Algerine woil, aha‘tickets paiu ! $,154 each. It is. alleged that 'fifteen were added after Uie pool had. been closed. It is predicted that if these'mysterious manipulations of tbe indicator become more frequent and notorious, this branch of gambling wilt lose its present popularitjr/rr-jr. F. Tribune, f /uny-dii