Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/26

Rh on a racecourse have ever owned a horse, many are as ignorant of the points of a horse as a Malay, and yet they go in the hope of winning a few pounds or shillings. People do not go to see cricket in a spirit like this: the large majority are or have been players, and therefore they understand the game, and they do not go with the object of betting. It is impossible to say how much cricket owes to the fact that as a medium for betting it is impossible, and always will be. A man may risk hundreds of pounds over a match if he chooses, though we never heard of such a case, but the professional bookmaker is an animal that does not find his métier on the cricket field, and where he does not exist, betting is not carried on to an unhealthy extent. A professional bookmaker will not establish himself anywhere unless there is a good prospect, perhaps you may say certainty, of his making money, and I am thankful to say that cricket is not adapted to his purpose. This can hardly be said of any other game, although I do not think there is much betting connected with Association football.

The real reason why professional bookmakers avoid cricket is because there is no scope for