Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
BET
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: BER-BLA
del.icio.us it!
|
BET and BETTING (probably from O. Fr. abeter, to instigate, Eng. " abet," i.e. with See also:money). To " bet " is to stake money or something valuable on some future contingency. Betting in some See also:form or other has been in See also:vogue from the earliest days,commencing in the See also:East with royal and See also:noble gamblers, and gradually extending itself westwards and throughout all classes. In all countries where the See also:English See also:tongue is spoken betting is now largely indulged in; and in the See also:United See also:Kingdom it spread to such an extent amongst all grades of society, during the 16th See also:century, that the interference of the legislature was necessary (see GAMING AND WAGERING). Bets can, of course, be made on any subject, and are a See also:common method of backing one's See also:opinion or skill, whether at See also:games of See also:cards or in any other connexion; but the commonest form of betting is associated with the See also:turf. In the See also:early days of See also:horse-racing persons who wished to bet often failed to gratify their inclination because of the difficulty of finding any one ready to See also:wager. To obviate this difficulty the professional bookmaker arose. It was perceived that if a See also:man laid money against a number of horses, conducting his business on discreet principles, he would in all See also:probability receive enough to pay the bettor who was successful and to leave a surplus for himself; for the " bookmaker," as the professional betting man came to be called, had enormous advantages in his favour. He was presumably shrewd and wary, whereas many of those with whom he dealt were precisely the opposite, and benefit arose to him from the mistakes and miscalculations of owners and trainers of horses, and from the innumerable accidents which occur to prevent anticipated success; moreover, if he carried out the theory of his calling he would so arrange his See also:book, by what is called " betting to figures," that the money he received would be more than he could possibly be called upon to pay. In practice, of course, this often does not happen, because " backers " will sometimes support two or three horses in a See also:race only, and the success of one may result in loss to the bookmaker; but in the See also:long run it has been almost invariably found that the bookmaker grows See also:rich and that the backer of horses loses money. It is the bookmaker who regulates the odds, and this he does, sometimes by anticipating, sometimes by noting, the See also:desire of backers to support certain animals. Such things as See also:stable secrets can scarcely be said to exist at the See also:present See also:time; the bookmaker is usually as well able as any one else to estimate the chances of the various horses engaged in races. Notwithstanding that the reports of a trial gallop are of comparatively little value to any except the few persons who know what weights the animals carried when tried, the bookmaker is extraordinarily keen, and frequently successful, in his See also:search for See also:information; and on this the odds depend. Betting in connexion with horse-racing is of two kinds: " See also:post," when wagering does not begin until the See also:numbers of the runners are hoisted on the See also:board; and " ante-post," when wagering opens See also:weeks or months before the event; though of this latter there is far less than was formerly the See also:case, doubtless for the See also:reason that before the introduction of so many new and valuable stakes See also:attention was generally concentrated on a comparatively small number of races. Bets on the See also:Derby, the Oaks and the St Leger were formerly common nearly a See also:year before the See also:running of the races, and a few handicaps, such as the See also:Chester See also:Cup, used to occupy attention months beforehand; the weights, of course, being published at a much longer See also:interval See also:prior to the contest than is at present the See also:rule. As regards ante-post betting, bookmakers have their own ideas as to the relative prospects of the horses entered. A See also:person who wishes to back a horse asks the See also:price, and accepts or declines, as the case may be. If the bet is laid it will probably be quoted in the See also:newspapers, and other persons who propose to wager on the race are so likely to follow suit that it is shrewdly suspected that in not a few cases bets are quoted which never have been laid, in See also:order to induce the backers to speculate. According to the public demand for a horse the price shortens. If there is little or no demand the odds increase, the See also:market being almost entirely regulated by the money; so that if a See also:great many See also:people bet on a certain See also:animal the odds become shorter and shorter, till in many cases instead of laying odds against a horse, the bookmaker comes to take odds, that is, to agree to pay a smaller sum than he would receive from the backer if the animal lost. Post betting is conducted on very much the same principles. When the numbers are ' hoisted bookmakers proclaim their readiness to See also:lay or take certain odds, which vary according to the demand for the different animals. Backers are influenced by many considerations: by See also:gossip, by the opinions of writers on racing, and in many cases, unfortunately, by the See also:advice of " tipsters," who by advertisements and circulars profess their ability to indicate winners, a pretence which is obviously absurd, as if these men possessed the knowledge they claim, they would assuredly keep it to themselves and utilize it for their own private purposes. The specious promises of such men do See also:infinite See also:mischief, as they so often See also:appeal with success to the folly and gullibility of the ignorant, and in See also:recent years the extent to which betting has grown has resulted in attempts to check it by organized means. A society for the purpose was formed in See also:England called the See also:Anti-Gambling See also:League. A bookmaker named Dunn was summoned in 1897 for betting in Tattersall's enclosure, which it was contended contravened the Betting See also:House See also:Act of 1853. This act had been aimed against what were known as "See also:list houses," establishments then kept by bookmakers for betting purposes, and associated with many disgraceful scandals. In the See also:preamble to his See also:bill See also:Lord See also:Cockburn began by remarking that " Whereas a new form of betting has of See also:late sprung up," and the Anti-Gambling League sought to argue that this included a form of betting which had not sprung up of late but had on the contrary been carried on without interference for many generations. The divisional See also:court of the See also:queen's See also:bench (See also:Hawke v. Dunn, 13 T.L.R. 281) held that such betting was an infringement of the act, and that the enclosure was a." See also:place " within the meaning of the act, and had been used by the See also:respondent for the purpose of betting with persons resorting thereto, and that he was liable to be convicted. The case was remitted to the justices, who convicted the See also:defendant. A somewhat similar case was decided on the same See also:day (M'Inany v. See also:Hildreth, 1897, 13 T.L.R. 285), in which it was held that a professional book-maker who went to a place known as the See also:pit heap " at See also:Jarrow, to which the public had See also:access at all times, and made bets with persons assembled there, was properly convicted, and that the " pit heap " itself and the place where he stood were " places " within the meaning of the act. It was afterwards held by the court of appeal (See also:Powell v. Kemplon See also:Park Racecourse Co., Ltd., 1897, 2 Q.B. 242), in an See also:action brought to restrain a racecourse See also:company from opening or keeping an enclosure on a racecourse by allowing it to be used by bookmakers, that the words " other place " must be construed as meaning a defined place, that the user of such a place implied some exclusive right in the user against others, and that the racecourse owners had not been guilty of permitting the enclosure to be used in the manner prohibited by the act of 1853. The decision in Hawke v. Dunn was disapproved of; and the House of Lords afterwards affirmed the decision of the court of appeal. The See also:Street Betting Act 1906 enacted that any person frequenting or loitering in streets or public places for the purpose of book-making, or betting, or wagering, should be liable on See also:summary conviction, in the case of a first offence, to a See also:fine not exceeding ten pounds, in the case of a second offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and in the case of a third or subsequent offence, or in any case where he is proved to have committed the offence of having a betting transaction with a person under the See also:age of sixteen years, to a fine, on conviction on See also:indictment, not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a See also:term not exceeding six months. On summary conviction the fine is a sum not exceeding See also:thirty pounds or imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding three months. A wide See also:definition is given to the words " street " and " public place," and racecourses are expressly exempted from the operation of the act. On all See also:French racecourses (since 1866), as on others nearly everywhere else on the See also:continent, and likewise in the See also:British colonies, a See also:system of betting known as the Pari-Mutuel or Totalizator, is carried on. Rows of offices are established behind or near the stands, on each of which lists are exhibited containing the numbers of the horses that are to run in thec oming race. At some of these the minimum wager is five francs, at others ten, twenty, fifty, one See also:hundred, five hundred and in some cases a thousand. The person who proposes to bet goes to the clerk at one of these offices, mentions the number, as indicated on the card, of the horse he wishes to back, and states whether he desires to bet on it to win or for a place only. He receives a See also:voucher for his money. After the race the whole amount collected at the various offices is put together and divided after a percentage has been deducted for the See also:administration and for the poor. As soon as this has been done, the money is divided and the prices to be paid to winners are' exhibited on boards. These prices are calculated on a unit of ten francs. Thus, for instance, if the winner is notified as bringing in twenty-five francs, the meaning is that the backer receives his See also:original stake of ten and fifteen in addition, the money being paid immediately by another clerk attached to the See also:office at which the bet was made. The great French municipalities derive considerable See also:revenue in See also:relief of rates from the See also:Paris Mutuels. In See also:Japan this system was made illegal in 1908. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] BESTIA |
[next] BETAYNE (OXYNEURINE, LYCINE), C5H13NO3 |