Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Athens-BOI

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against Craigmillar, the winner. This leaves a gain of £20, 2s. 6d.
or 201 per cent., but even then travelling and other expenses have
not been taken into consideration, and the fewer horses that are
backed the less accordingly will be the bookmaker’s profit. In
fact, the non-backing of any one horse in this instance materially
reduces the profit. The race in question was particularly favour¬
able for bookmakers, both because so many horses were scratched
(representing a gain of £26, 17s. 10d.), and because at the date
supposed the winner was at such long odds. At the actual start
the odds against the beaten horses were 9 to 2, and 6, 7, 9, 10, 12,
20, 25, 25, 50, and 66 to 1 respectively, and against the winner 20
to 3. This will be found to leave the bookmaker, had he com¬
menced his book the day of the race,-a profit of £1, 12s. 6d. only,
and had the first favourite won there would have been a loss of
£5, 11s. lid. There were 178 entries for this St Leger, and if the
book had been opened many months before the race, and the book¬
maker had been able to obtain customers, the favourites would have
been backed at longer odds, bringing less profit from this source,
but then more eventual non-starters are backed, which is certain
profit. The chief principles of bookmaking are the same, whether
the number of starters for an event be unlimited, or two only,
though, in the latter case, there is no certain profit, as there are
not sufficient starters to enable the bookmaker to save his stake.
His only chance then is that he has been circumspect enough to
have laid his odds on the winner.
“ Backing” is a very plain matter, but in the long-run
invariably a losing method of betting. It simply consists
in taking the odds laid by a bookmaker against one or
more starters for any event. If it be a play or pay event,
and the possible starter be scratched, the backer loses his
money at once. Although a backer may become possessed
of such special information as may enable him to win large
sums occasionally, his losses will in the long-run exceed
them. In fact, the bookmaker virtually keeps a bank
against him.
“Hedging” consists in laying off at shorter odds part
of the sums various starters may have been backed
for. Thus, a backer has taken £50 to £1 about A,
B, and C respectively for a play or pay event some time
before the date fixed for the contest. A turns out a non¬
starter, so there is a certain loss of £1. At starting the
odds have come down to say 2 to 1 against B, and 3 to 1
against C. So the backer lays £50 to £25 against B, and
£50 to £16, 13s. 4d. against C. If neither wins he
receives £41, 13s. 4d., out of which he has to pay £3 to
the bookmaker, leaving a profit of £38, 13s. 4d. Should
B win he receives £50 from the bookmaker, and
£16, 13s. 4d. on account of C’s defeat, out of which he
has to pay £2 to the bookmaker on account of A and C,
and the £50 he has laid against B, so the profit left is
£14, 13s. 4d. Should C win, the hedger receives £50
from the bookmaker, and £25 on account of B’s defeat,
out of which he has still to pay the bookmaker £2 on
account of A and B, and the £50 he has laid against C,
so the profit left is £23.
The only events that are now play or pay are the Derby,
Oaks, St Leger, Two Thousand Guineas, One Thousand
Guineas, Cesarewitch, and Cambridgeshire Stakes, the
Ascot, Goodwood, and Doncaster Cups, and all handicaps
above £200 value, with two forfeits, the minor whereof
is not less than £5. In all other betting the backer is
entitled to a start for his money, unless the contrary is
stipulated at the time the bet is made.
In the United Kingdom betting has been the source
of considerable legislation during the past thirty years.
Curiously enough, by the 9th of Queen Anne, if any one
gained over £10 by betting, the loser was entitled to
pursue for repayment of the stake if he had paid it, and if
he did not do so within three months any one might sue
for treble the amount with costs. After it had become a
dead letter some informers raked up this Act in 1844, and
the result was the insertion of a clause in the Gaming
Act, 8 and 9 Yict. c. 109, annulling the old statute. Dur¬
ing the next seven years betting on horse races increased to
an enormous extent. “ List shops,” where the proprietors
-BET
kept a bank against all comers, and backers could stake
their money in advance on a horse, sprung up in the
metropolis and large towns, leading to many acts of flagrant
dishonesty. Sir Alexander Cockburn, then attorney-general,
accordingly introduced the Betting Houses Act, 16 and 17
Yict. c. 119, whereby all houses or places kept for such
purposes were brought under the above-mentioned Gaming
Act, and might be proceeded against as a common nuisance
and contrary to law,—heavy penalties being incurred by
the owners, occupiers, or advertizers of such houses or places.
Betting on race-courses, or at Tattersall’s and similar private
clubs, where money is not received in advance, was not
meant to be interfered with. For sometime this legislation
had the desired effect till attempts were made to evade it
by receiving money through the post. These were successful
till the summer of 1869, when the Government suddenly
bestirred itself, and several prosecutions took place. As
the Act, however, did not extend to Scotland, the betting-
house keepers removed there or went abroad, and their adver¬
tisements at such addresses were still legal. This led
to 37 Yict. c. 14, extending 16 and 17 Viet. c. 119 to
Scotland, and making all advertisements of betting-houses,
whether in or out of the United Kingdom, illegal. It came
into force on 31st July 1874, and almost exterminated
the receiving of money in advance, especially as it is now
enforced very strictly.
In 1866 a system of betting, termed Paris mutuels, was
started in France. It consisted of agencies where any one
may back a probable starter for any sum or sums he pleases.
The whole of the money thus staked on all starters is added
together, a commission deducted by the agent for his
trouble, and the balance divided in “ equal shares,” or Paris
mutuels, amongst those who have backed the victor. In
this instance the agent’s gain is, of course, certain. It has
been found, however, that unlicensed opportunities of
staking money in advance have produced the same evils in
France as in England. During the past three years the
French Government have taken the matter up strongly, and
betting-houses and agencies are now as effectually doomed
on the French as on the English side of the Channel.
In the United States betting is also illegal. Under the
Gambling Act, whenever any money has been staked for a
bet, either side can sue the stakeholder and recover his
portion of the money, either before or after the bet has
been decided. Owing, however, to the strong public senti¬
ment which naturally condemns such a course, proceedings
against stakeholders are excessively rare. Any voter
betting on the result of an election forfeits his franchise,
yet the heaviest betting in the States is on elections, and
the betters go unchallenged to the poll. (h. f. w.)
BETUL, a hilly district of British India, in the Central
Provinces, comprising the westernmost section of the
great Sdtpurfi plateau, situated between 21° 20' and 22°
35' N". lat., and 77° 20' and 78° 35' E. long. It is bounded
on the N. by the Hoshangfibad district and the Makrfii
territory, on the E. by the district of Chhindwfira, on the S.
by the commissionership of West Berars, and on the W. by
the district of HoshangdbM. The area is about 4118 square
miles; the population, as ascertained by the census of 1866,
258,335. In 1872 the population had increased to 284,055,
of whom 168,788 were Hindus, 4555 Mahometans, 937
Buddhists and Jains, 19 Christians, and 109,756 aborigines;
population, 69 per square mile. The mean elevation of
the district above the sea is about 2000 feet. The country
is essentially a highland tract, divided naturally into three
distinct portions, differing in their superficial aspects, the
character of their soil, and their geological formation. The
northern part of the district forms an irregular plain of the
sandstone formation. It is a well-wooded tract, in many
places stretching out in charming glades like an English