A K Rao
Active member
When it comes to making quick money, the first thing that strikes one’s mind is Gambling. In India except for the licensed Casinos, government approved lotteries the only officially permitted gambling is the Horse Racing. Though the court has given the ruling that the Horse Racing is a game of skill, it still involves betting and gambling. That is the reason I call this as a Gambling. This is a very popular sport and considered as one of the 'Royal Sports'. In fact this game has a long history and is popular throughout the world.
Money Involved In Racing
The Horse races involve money in two parts, the first part is the money won by the owner of the horse in the race which is the prize money and is known as stake money. This stake money is declared by the Club where the races are being held well in advance and is handed over to the owner of the horse winning the race. This has got nothing with the gambling. In India the owners of the race horses hail from either big industrial families or from Royal families. Since the race horses are becoming expensive nowadays, people are forming syndicates and owning the horses. The partnership was a common before also. By doing so the overhead expenses are getting reduced comparatively and the syndicate members can easily afford to have few good horses.
The second part of is the money is the money that is paid after the race to the punters or the bettors who gamble on the horses and this is the gambling money or winning money by the gamblers and the gamblers get the money depending upon the various factors for their investment. There are various types of betting available at the race course on the tote and also by the private bookies.
Types Of Gambling Places On Race Course:
There are two types of Gambling procedures one can adopt when on Race Course, first is with the Gambling conducted by the Club and another is the gambling conducted by various private bookies.
Tote:
In the gambling conducted by the Club, the betting is being taken on the tote. Here they have many windows where people's computers sit and accept the betting. Depending upon the Racecourse or the Race Club bets of various kinds are accepted. Whatever may be the type of the betting on the tote the money received in each category is pooled and after keeping the commission by the Club the remaining money is distributed among the tickets that have been used to bet on winning horse. Here since the winning amount is decided after the race, we don’t get any rates or odds on a horse in any category in the tote, which is invariably a feature a gambler gets at the private bookies.
The typical races one can see on the Race course tote are:
Win: Where one has to bet on a horse which he/she thinks that can win. Here the horses can give good dividends if they are not favorite ones. In the majority of the wins the favorites are backed up by the gamblers greatly because of which the chances of getting higher odds gets reduced.
Place: Here in this case the person can select a horse and can get money if the horse is seen in first three positions of the race. Here the dividend is smaller than the probability of winning the horse in the place becomes more. In place generally people get about the one-third of the winning money that they get.
Tanala: This is a race where three horses are selected and gambled in a particular rank and the person wins the race if the horses selected win in the selected order. Here the chances of getting the event is highly improbable and so the winning money is always much more in this race.
Quinella: This is a race where two horses are selected and the person wins if both the horses are winning the race in first and second place irrespective of the exact order. Here the chances of getting the horses winning are more so the odds they get in this race is quite less.
Exacta: Here this race is like Quinnella with a difference that the horses have to win in the fixed order as selected by the Gambler. Tis is very difficult to predict the two horses in a particular order so here getting the odds are quite high.
Jackpot: Here the Club decides to select any five races of the day and asks the punters to guess the winning horse in each race. There can be a single Jackpot or more than one depending upon the Club's decision and the public demand. Here the winning tickets get good dividends as it is very hard to guess the winners in all 5 races. There is an incentive if the gambler misses last race which is also a good amount. In gambler's language the last race is known as the last leg. Many -a-times people who never gambled before and/or gambled for the first time have won the Jackpot making this event very popular amongst the masses.
The Private Bookies
The second type of gambling is conducted by the private bookies and is almost same but the small difference. There are many private bookies with different booking windows and here the rates/odds are announced in advance by these bookies. These bookies are legal one and are big companies who take the bookings in large amounts. The odds for each horse are mentioned on the display board which keeps on changing depending upon the betting by the gamblers between the two races. This is done for each race. The time between the two races is 45 minutes and during this time the odds keep on changing depending upon the number of the gamblers betting on each horse. The gambler gets the money on the odds on which he books his bet. Here the tickets attract the entertainment tax and this tax has to be borne by the gambler and has to be paid separately to the private bookies.
People prefer to play more with the private bookies as they are likely to get more odds for the horses in the race and they know that what exactly the amount they are going to get if the horse wins the race. They also save the commission which the club changes if they are betting on the private bookies.
Different private bookies have different odds for the same race. This is done to attract more gamblers to gamble on higher odds which are commonly seen in the habitual punters. This can be only seen and experienced to get the actual feeling that the gamblers they get while betting on such non-favorite horses. In their language they call such horses as the black horses. At times such non favorites win and get a lot of dividend to the gamblers. These horses win once in a blue moon and the gamblers reap big dividends.
Inter Venue Booking or Gambling
In India we have nine race Courses and each race course is having a tote and private bookies in them. Though the online betting is not legally valid in India, there is a facility of attending Inter venue gambling available. That means all race courses are kept open on all the race days even if the races are not conducted at their center. Here they take the betting on the horses that are being run on different centers. This is called inter-venue betting and because of this the various clubs are getting income despite not having the actual race being run on the center. Here both the tote and the private bookies operate and make profits. Inter-venue betting is a big boon for a habitual gambler and he invariably makes it to attend such races on the race course to witness the live racing telecast.
Off Course Betting:
Apart from these there are Off Course betting at the betting centers outside the race courses and people gather there to attend the race to be viewing the live race on the Television to gamble. We have a festive look with a lot of rush there with the gamblers, who want to attend live racing and to gamble. Here normally the totes are operational and almost every race course is having its off course betting venues in various places in the city and outside the city. These are legal outlets and one can bet here on the tote without any fear. I know the Off Course betting centers at Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Vijayawada and I have even visited them also. We have a good gathering there on these centers and people are gambling here with enthusiasm as they would do on any Racecourse.
Staff Involved In Horse Racing:
The racing is a big event involving a big group of various professionals. This is a team event. The various professionals involved in racing are:
Grooms: Persons actually working and looking after the race horses.
Rider Boys: They are the people who ride the horses and make them understand what is riding. This is known as breaking the horse.
Jockeys: Are the official licensed riders who ride a race horse in the actual race. They follow the instructions given to them by the trainers.
Trainers: They are licensed professional people who judge the horses and train them for the racing. Depending upon the capability they decide if the horses are sprinters or stayers and they run the horses accordingly.
Computer Operators: Are the staff on the course taking the bet on computers from the gamblers.
Handicappers: They are the qualified people who give the various weights to the horses before the races to make their chances of winning equal. If a handicapper is good then the first few horses they finish neck to neck. When two horses are sharing the first position it is called a dead heat. It is the dream of the any handicapper to have the dead heat in the race where he handicapped.
Clark of the Course: Who organizes the writing work of the every race day and sees to it that the races are made to run without any hindrance.
Starters: Are the people who start the race
Stipendiary Stewards: These are the people who declares the final results of the race.
Referees: Are the people who decide the results of the racing in the dark room where they develop the finishing of the every race.
Veterinary Doctors: They are only people who are qualified legally by passing out the graduation or post-graduation. This man is one who get less recognition though his got a big job of looking after the races on the race course. Generally the Vet inspect the horses before the races and give the fitness certificate.
After the racing the collects the urine and the blood from the first three horses to send to a laboratory to check if any horse is doped.
He looks after the racing horses after the racing and gives the required treatment after every race.
Photographers and Videographers: Are an integral part of any racing and they play a major role in shooting the race and telecasting the races live for the gamblers at various race courses.
The drivers of the Vehicles: They are the people who follow each race meticulously without disturbing them in every race. These drivers are very experienced.
Taxation Is Big Setback we are facing today:
Since this is the only legal gambling in India people are really interested in gambling on the horses, but unfortunately because of the heavy taxation people are bit reluctant to bet as they need to pay a lot of money to gamble. The people are purchasing an entry tickets for each race day. Then they need to pay entertainment tax when they are betting on a horse which is nonrefundable. There after they need to pay the commission to the race course and on the remaining amount of the winning amount is decided. This winning amount is also subjected to GST and unfortunately this attracts a maximum slab of the GST which is 28%. This is too much for any gambler. That is why the gambling on the race course is getting less popular and private bookies are getting better business. The racing industry is a big industry supporting millions of people in the business and this industry needs to be saved. The government of India must give concession in the GST so that the people may attend the racing and gamble, which are in bad shape now. Though several requests are being sent nothing concrete has been done so far. Hope the things will be getting settled and become alright very soon.
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