-HE answer to a medium-sized race track's prayer—a machine which possesses many of the features of the "Totalisator," without costing a tithe as much to manufacture—is now being fested by the Shanghai Race Club, and is giving every satisfaction, writes the "Hongkong Sunday Herald."
Basically, the machine allows punters to purchase parimutuel tickets without delay and without having to walk long distances to join a crowd and jostle around the pari-mutuel booths.
The basic idea of the machine originated in the fertile brain of Mr. A. W. Olsen, secretary of the Shanghai Race Club. As in Hong Kong, the Shanghai Race Club's pari-mutuel tickets are sold at the usual booths, with a horde of Chinese handling the "wins" and "places," and people scrambling about the popular numbers in crowds which at times get somewhat unruly.
A full-sized "Totalisator" costs a lot of money—especially these days—and as he watched the milling crowds Mr, Olsen felt that something should be done to speed-up the operation, as well as to devise a means for making the purchase of tickets more convenient for people who might be halt a mile or so away from the booths and, hence, somewhat chary of making the long trek very frequently.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.