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Creating Mobile Apps with
jQuery Mobile

Learn to make practical, unique, real-world sites that

span a variety of industries and technologies with the
world's most popular mobile development library

Shane Gliser

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Creating Mobile Apps with jQuery Mobile

Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in
critical articles or reviews.

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of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is
sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt
Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages
caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: April 2013

Production Reference: 1170413

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place
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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK

ISBN 978-1-78216-006-9

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Asher Wishkerman (wishkerman@hotmail.com)

 Credits

Author Project Coordinators

Shane Gliser Anish Ramchandani
Navu Dhillon
Reviewers
Mario Agüero Proofreaders
Kaiser Ahmed Lauren Tobon
Andy Matthews Elinor Perry-Smith
Tony Pye
Indexer
Acquisition Editor Rekha Nair
Usha Iyer
Production Coordinator
Lead Technical Editor Pooja Chiplunkar
Arun Nadar
Cover Work
Technical Editors Pooja Chiplunkar
Jalasha D'costa
Soumya Kanti
Ishita Malhi
Varun Pius Rodrigues
 About the Author

Shane Gliser graduated from Washburn University in 2001, specializing in Java

development. Over the next several years, he developed a love of web development
and taught himself HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Having shifted his focus again,
Shane's primary passions are user experience and the mobile web.

Shane began working with jQuery Mobile while it was still in the Alpha 2 phase and
deployed American Century Investments' mobile site while the framework was still
in Beta 2. Since then, he has rebranded and re-launched his own personal business,
Roughly Brilliant Digital Studios (http://roughlybrilliant.com), as a place
where he could start blogging tips about using jQuery Mobile.

Major thanks go to Todd Parker, Scott Jehl, and the rest of the crew
at Filament Group and the many other volunteers who have given
their time and talent to creating jQuery Mobile.

Jim Tharp, thank you for being my mobile partner-in-crime and for
your continuous, epic sense of humor.

To the leadership team at American Century Investments, thank you

for believing in my little two-week demo and trusting us to march
down this unknown path.
 About the Reviewers

Mario Agüero is a Software Engineer from Costa Rica with a long experience in
both software development and academics.

He has developed several backend engines for clients and directed the adoption of
best practices for growing business. From the last couple of years, he has also been
working in frontend development, developing great interfaces and components for
his clients' websites.

He has the advantage of being strongly agnostic about platforms, making him one
of the few persons recognized as an excellent instructor and architect in both .NET
and Java.

On the academic side, he has always been ahead in actively promoting technologies
such as XML, JavaScript, and JSON before they became mainstream. He has helped
with and developed several training programs for professional updates and
career changes.

He has also reviewed the Spanish editions of several books, such as PHP for
Dummies.

Kaiser Ahmed is a professional web developer. He has acquired his Bachelor of

Science degree from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET)
and his Master of Science degree in Computer Science Engineering from United
International University, Dhaka. He is a cofounder of CyberXpress.Net, Inc. (www.
cyberxpress.net), which is based in Bangladesh.

He has been working as Senior Software Developer at Krembo Interactive and D1SH.
COM CORP., Canada, for 2 years.
He has a wide array of technical skills, knowledge of the Web, and experience
across a spectrum of online-development activities in building and improving
online properties, which he has done for multiple clients. He enjoys creating
site architecture and infrastructure; backend development using open source
technologies such as PHP, MySQL, Apache, Linux, and others (for example, LAMP);
and frontend development using CSS and HTML/XHTML.

I want to thank my loving wife, Maria Akther, for her great support.

Andy Matthews has been working as a web and application developer for over 16
years, with experience in a wide range of industries and a skillset which includes UI/
UX, graphic design, and programming. He has co-authored the book jQuery Mobile
Web Development Essentials, and writes for online publications such as NetTuts and
.NET Magazine. He is a frequent speaker at conferences around the USA, and he has
developed software for the open source community including several of the most
popular jQuery Mobile projects on the web. He blogs at andyMatthews.net, he tweets
at @commadelimited. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife and four children.

Tony Pye has over 10 years of experience in producing web-based solutions, and
strives to stay ahead when it comes to rapidly-evolving web technologies in order to
be able to offer innovative solutions.

He is passionate about matching business goals with innovative use of technology.

As the head of Digital Production at INK Digital Agency, he has been guiding clients
through the complex digital world; integrating digital marketing with internal
business systems is his specialty.

Liaising with members from the creative and user-experience teams, meeting clients,
presenting ideas, and helping define goals are just a part of Tony's normal day at INK.
Some of the solutions he has helped produce have delivered exciting results for
companies including Ballymore, Morrisons, Renault, Tarmac, Aviva, LA fitness, and
the University of Leeds.

Tony has also worked on a number of other books as the technical reviewer, which
include Pro HTML5 Programming and The Definitive Guide to HTML5 WebSocket
(not yet published).

I'd like to thank my beautiful wife for her support and patience
during the long nights I've worked. Her fantastic coffee-making
skills were certainly put to great use. Thanks darling!!
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To my wonderful wife, Laney. Yes, now I will finally finish the basement.
 Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Prototyping jQuery Mobile 9
The game has changed 9
The mobile usage pattern 10
HTML prototyping versus drawing 11
Getting our hands dirty with small business 12
The rest of the site 15
Requirements 18
Alternates to paper prototyping 19
Summary 19
Chapter 2: A Mom-and-Pop Mobile Website 21
A new jQuery Mobile boilerplate 21
Meta viewport differences 23
Full-site links beyond the industry standard 24
The global JavaScript 26
.live versus .on 27
The global CSS 28
Breaking the HTML into a server side template 28
What we need to create our site 31
Getting Glyphish and defining custom icons 32
Linking to phones, e-mails, and maps 34
Custom fonts 37
Page curl shadow effects for our list items 38
Optimization: why you should be thinking of it first 39
The final product 41
The custom CSS 42
The resulting first page 47
Table of Contents

Getting the user to our mobile site 48

Detecting and redirecting using JavaScript 49
Detecting on the server 51
Summary 51
Chapter 3: Analytics, long forms, and frontend validation 53
Google Static Maps 53
Adding Google Analytics 55
Long and multi-page forms 60
Integrating jQuery Validate 62
E-commerce tracking with Google Analytics 72
Summary 74
Chapter 4: QR Codes, Geolocation, Google Maps API,
and HTML5 Video 75
QR codes 76
Geolocation 77
Integrating the Google Maps API 87
Geek-out moment—GPS monitoring 92
Linking and embedding video 98
Summary 100
Chapter 5: Client-side Templating, JSON APIs, and HTML5
Web Storage 101
Client-side templating 102
Patching into JSON APIs (Twitter) 104
Programmatically changing pages 113
Generated pages and DOM weight management 113
Leveraging RSS feeds 114
Forcing responsive images 119
HTML5 Web Storage 119
Browser-based databases (a work in progress) 120
JSON to the rescue 120
Leveraging the Google Feeds API 122
Summary 124
Chapter 6: HTML5 Audio 125
HTML5 Audio 126
Fixed position persistent toolbars (really!?) 128
Controlling HTML5 Audio with JavaScript 130
HTML5 Audio in iOS is different 136
The all-in-one solution (multipage made useful) 136
Saving to the home screen with HTML5 manifest 150
Summary 152
[ ii ]
 Table of Contents

Chapter 7: Fully Responsive Photography 153

Creating a basic gallery using PhotoSwipe 154
Supporting the full range of device sizes – responsive web design 156
Text readability and responsive design 161
Smartphone-sized devices 164
Tablet-sized devices 165
Desktop-sized devices 166
Cycling background images 166
Another responsive approach – RESS 169
The final code 170
Summary 170
Chapter 8: Integrating jQuery Mobile into Existing Sites 171
Detecting mobile – server-side, client-side, and the combination
of the two 171
Browser sniffing versus feature detection 172
WURFL – server-side database-driven browser sniffing 172
JavaScript-based browser sniffing 177
JavaScript-based feature detection using Modernizr 178
JavaScript-based lean feature detection 179
Server-side plus client-side detection 179
Mobilizing full-site pages – the hard way 183
Know your role 183
Step 1 of 2 – focus on content, marketing cries foul! 184
Step 2 of 2 – choose global navigation style and insert 185
Global nav as a separate page 185
Global nav at the bottom 186
Global nav as a panel 187
The hard way – final thoughts 187
Mobilizing full-site pages – the easy way 187
Summary 194
Chapter 9: Content Management Systems and jQM 195
The current CMS landscape 196
WordPress and jQuery Mobile 196
Manually installing the mobile theme switcher 198
Automatically installing the mobile theme switcher 198
Configuring the mobile theme switcher 199
Drupal and jQuery Mobile 200
Updating your WordPress and Drupal templates 205
WordPress – Golden Apples jQM Theme 205
Drupal – jQuery Mobile Theme 205

[ iii ]
Table of Contents

Adobe Experience Manager 206

Summary 208
Chapter 10: Putting It All Together – Flood.FM 209
A Taste of Balsamiq 210
Organizing your code 212
MVC, MVVM, MV* 212
MV* and jQuery Mobile 213
The application 214
The events 215
The model 216
Introduction to the Web Audio API 217
Prompting the user to install your app 220
New device-level hardware access 222
Accelerometers 222
Camera 222
APIs on the horizon 223
To app or not to app, that is the question 223
Raining on the parade (take this seriously) 223
Three good reasons for compiling an app 225
The project itself IS the product 225
Access to native-only hardware capabilities 225
Push notifications 225
Supporting current customers 225
PhoneGap versus Apache Cordova 226
Summary 229
Index 231

[ iv ]
 Preface

Can we build it? Yes, we can!

Mobile is the fastest growing technology sector in existence. It is a wave of change
that has shattered all analysts' expectations. You have the choice to harness that
wave or to be swept under. In Creating Mobile Apps with jQuery Mobile, we'll take you
through several projects of increasing complexity across a variety of industries. At
the same time, we'll tackle several mobile usability and experience issues that are
common to all mobile implementations, not just jQuery Mobile.

By the end you will have all the skills necessary to take jQuery Mobile and a host of
other technologies and techniques to create truly unique offerings. This will be fun.
It will be challenging, and by the end, you will be quoting Bob the Builder, "Can we
build it? Yes we can!"

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Prototyping jQuery Mobile, harnesses the power of rapid prototyping
before you start coding. Come to a quicker, better, and shared understanding with
your clients.

Chapter 2, A Mom-and-Pop Mobile Website, implements the prototypes from Chapter 1.

The design is unique and begins to establish a base server-side template.

Chapter 3, Analytics, Long Forms, and Front-end Validation, takes the casual
implementation of Chapter 2 and adds in Google Analytics, the jQuery Validate
framework, and a technique for dealing with long forms.

Chapter 4, QR Codes, Geolocation, Google Maps API, and HTML5 Video, will have you
implement a site for a movie theater chain.
Preface

Chapter 5, Client-side Templating, JSON APIs, and HTML5 Web Storage, creates a
social news nexus, tapping into the API powers of Twitter, Flickr, and the Google
Feeds API.

Chapter 6, HTML5 Audio, takes HTML5 audio and progressive enhancement to turn a
very basic web audio player page into a musical artist's showcase.

Chapter 7, Fully Responsive Photography, explores the user of jQuery Mobile as a

mobile-first, responsive web design (RWD) platform. We also take a very quick look
at typography as it applies to RWD.

Chapter 8, Integrating jQuery Mobile into Existing Sites, explores the methods of
building jQuery Mobile sites for clients who want their pages mobilized but don't
have a content management system (CMS). We also dig deep into mobile detection
methods including client-side, server-side, and a combination of the two.

Chapter 9, Content Management Systems and jQM, teaches us how to integrate jQM
into WordPress and Drupal.

Chapter 10, Putting it all together – Flood.FM, builds on the knowledge of the
previous chapters and creates, adds a little more, and considers compilation
using PhoneGap Build.

What you need for this book

You really only need a few things for this book.

• A text editor
All you need is a basic text editor for your code; Notepad++ is great on
Windows. I really like Sublime Text 2. Eclipse will work though it's a bit
heavy-handed. Dreamweaver is pretty good but pricey. It really doesn't
matter much; you can pick whatever text editor makes you happy.
• A web server
You could use a hosted solution such as HostGator, Godaddy, 1&1, and
many more, or keep all your testing local using something like XAMPP,
WAMP, MAMP, or LAMP on your development box.
• JavaScript libraries
Here and there in the chapters we'll introduce a few JS libraries. In each case,
I'll tell you what they are and where to find them.
• A developer's sense of humor
We all think of it, we all say it. You'll find a rant or two in here. Take them for
what they're worth and never too seriously.
[2]
 Preface

Who this book is for

If you are already fairly good with web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and
jQuery), that's good enough for me. You can pick up jQM along the way in this book
and I think you'll be fine.

What we will cover

• Ideation and prototyping techniques
• Integrating custom fonts and icon sets
• Integrating client-side form validation using jQuery Validate
• Google Analytics, Maps, and Feeds APIs
• Geo location
• Embedding HTML5 Video and Audio
• Using client-side templates and JSON
• Digesting RSS feeds
• Integrating PhotoSwipe
• Media queries
• Mobile detection techniques
• Integrating with Wordpress and Drupal
• Integrating with pre-existing sites

Why jQuery Mobile

Kings rise and fall so fast in the mobile sector that it's almost impossible to predict
who and what will win. Just ask RIM (makers of BlackBerry devices) who went from
total domination down to 6 percent of the world's market share. With this level and
speed of change, how can you know that you are choosing the right platform for
your projects?

• A safe bet
The core jQuery library is used on over 57 percent of all websites in
existence and the growth rate shows no signs of slowing. (http://trends.
builtwith.com/javascript/jQuery). It is, by far, the most trusted name
in open source JavaScript libraries. Now that they have tossed their hat into
the mobile ring, you can bet that jQuery Mobile is a pretty safe choice for
reaching the most people with the smallest effort.

[3]
Preface

It is also worth noting that you will probably move on from most of your
projects after a time. Using jQM will increase the likelihood that whoever
comes after you will already have the skill set to pick up where you left off.
• Broadest device support
jQuery Mobile has the broadest range of device support. This has always
been part of their mission through their exceptional adherence to progressive
enhancement (PE). When an escalator breaks, it does not become completely
useless. It becomes simply stairs. In the same way, jQuery Mobile does some
really awesome things for those who have smartphones. But what about the
rest? They will see a standard web page without all the bells and whistles. At
the end of the day, a well-crafted jQM page can work for everyone.
• Mobile-first but not mobile-only
jQM was designed from the ground up with mobile in mind but with some
judicious use of responsive web design (RWD), a single jQM project can
service mobile, tablet, and even desktop.
• Declarative, not programmatic
Most of what you want to do in jQM can be done without writing a single
line of code. This makes it an ideal tool for even the newest of newbs to
jump in and get their feet wet in the mobile space. Designers with no real
programming experience can easily turn their visions into skinned, working
prototypes. For those of us who can program, it means that there is much less
coding we need to do and that is always a good thing. jQM perfectly fits the
jQuery core motto of "write less, do more."
• jQM versus other frameworks
There are many choices for your consideration if you want to use a
mobile framework. Check out http://www.markus-falk.com/mobile-
frameworks-comparison-chart/ for a breakdown tool comparing all the
options. The bottom line is this: if you want to support everybody and do it
easily, jQuery Mobile is the right choice of framework.
• jQM versus responsive web design
Much is being said these days about RWD. I'm all for it. A single unified site
is every developer's dream. However, this usually requires that the website
be built from the ground up with RWD in mind. This also presumes that
every page of the site is worth serving to a mobile audience. If you ever have
such a growth opportunity, enjoy it.

[4]
 Preface

The sad truth is, most of the rest of us don't get the luxury of starting a whole
new site from scratch, nor the time and tripled budget to do the job right.
And, if we're being quite honest… many sites have a lot of useless pages
that have no business being in the ultra-focused, task-oriented, get-in-get-
out-world that is the mobile web. You know it. I know it. A custom crafted
solution that perfectly fits the users' needs and context is usually a better way
to go.
• jQM versus rolling your own

You certainly could choose to roll out your own mobile sites from scratch but
that would be tantamount to felling a forest with an axe so you could make
the boards to build your own house. You are no less of a craftsman for using
premade components to make your masterpiece. Mobile frameworks exist
for a reason, the amount of development time and cross-device testing that
goes into them will save you more time and headaches than you can fathom.
It is worth noting that two out of the three top industry leaders highlighted
in Kasina's report, Mobile Leadership for Asset Managers and Insurers (http://
www.kasina.com/Page.asp?ID=1415), were crafted using jQuery Mobile.
Franklin Templeton, American Century Investments, and Vanguard were
highlighted. The first two were implemented using jQM.
Full disclosure: I was part of the team that created the referenced version of the
mobile site for American Century Investment so I'm rather proud of this report.

Progressive enhancement and graceful degradation

Resistance is futile. It is going to happen to you. Every year there are new exploits
announced at the Black Hat conferences (http://www.blackhat.com/). Just like
clockwork, companies neuter their smartphone users by turning off JavaScript
until a patch can be provided. One or more people within your mobile audience
will be affected.

While this situation can be almost as annoying as early editions of Internet Explorer,
jQuery Mobile can help, thanks to its masterful use of progressive enhancement. If
you have coded your pages in accordance with the framework's design then you will
have nothing to fear by the loss of JavaScript. The site will still work. It may not be
as pretty, but it will function for everyone from the smartest of smartphones to the
dumbest of "dumbphones".

It is our responsibility (as distasteful as it may be) to test our offerings with
JavaScript turned off to ensure that people can always access our product. It is
not hard to flip the settings on our phones and just take a look at what happens.
Frequently, it's trivial to fix whatever is wrong.

[5]
Preface

All that being said, we are going to mercilessly break that rule in this book because we
are going beyond the basics of the framework. When possible, we will try to keep this
principle in mind and provide fallback alternatives but some of what we are going to
try just can't be done without JavaScript. Welcome to the twenty-first century!

Accessibility
Smartphones are excellent tools for those with accessibility needs. The jQuery
Mobile team has made every effort to support the W3C's WAI-ARIA standards
for accessibility. At the very least, you should test your finished product with your
phone's voice assist technologies. You will be shocked at just how well your site can
perform. Your customers who need the help with be thrilled.

Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between
different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an
explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "To use the manifest file, your web server or
.htaccess will have to be configured to return the type of text/cache-manifest."

A block of code is set as follows:

<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="images/
album144.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="images/
album114.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="images/
album72.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="images/album57.png">

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the
screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "From there
you can download the latest copy of WURFL API package and unzip it."

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.

[6]
 Preface

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[7]
Preface

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[8]
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received, she believed Mr. Brown Jones (or any other person) was
anxious to find out the winner of the Derby (or whatever race might
be on the tapis), and that, on receiving half-a-crown, a rare double
event would be forwarded to his address.
One of this woman's most successful hits was reported to have been
made in the character of an invalid jockey's wife, her circular on that
occasion being worded as follows: "A jockey's wife, her husband
being unable to ride now in consequence of having sustained a
paralytic shock of the lower limbs, does not ask for charity; but
being anxious for the sake of her young children to earn a living, will
be glad to hear from gentlemen who take an interest in racing. Her
husband, having been a noted trial-rider, knows well the form of all
the horses now running. Address, Sarah Chiffman, 94A, Great
Pulteney Street, Golden Square." This advertisement, I was told, was
looked upon as being genuine, and also that half-sovereigns, to
cover letters from the date of its issue to the day of the
Cambridgeshire, were liberally contributed to the wife of the
unfortunate horseman; many people connected with racing affairs
fancied by subscribing that they would obtain "something good,"
whilst the fact of three winners of three races, and a second and
third in two more being given to start with, was thought sufficient
evidence of the bona fides of the advertiser.
For three or four years Mrs. Merryweather experienced a prosperous
time, customers being numerous, as, by means of her system of
sending different horses to different persons one or more batches of
them were certain to have had winners sent to them, and these
fortunate ones were not slow to sound the trumpet of her fame
among their friends, so that on some occasions she enjoyed a run of
success. How her career ended I cannot say from personal
knowledge. Fred Booth, a frequent visitor to "Jessop's," and
afterwards a bookmaker in a considerable way of business, used to
relate that she married one of her clients, a wholesale grain
merchant in the North of England, who had found his way to her
house intent on giving the prophet a very handsome present in
return for a double event which she had been lucky enough to send
him. The gentleman was greatly surprised on discovering that his
tipster was a woman, and a good-looking one, possessed of refined
manners; and according to Booth, who spoke as if he knew the
gentleman, the story came to a conclusion in the neighbouring
church in the most orthodox fashion.
I can from personal knowledge describe the doings of one of the
tipping fraternity. About the year 1842 or 1843 (I am not sure which
of these years it was), I went one evening to Sadler's Wells Theatre
to witness the play of King John, and after the tragedy I supped with
one of the actors in his lodgings in Arlington Street, near the
theatre. We were joined at table by a fellow-lodger of my friend,
who seemed to know nothing but what savoured of the turf, and he
was so complaisant as to tell me the names of several horses which
were pretty certain to win, and, as I know, did win some of the
coming events. Being invited, we shared a bottle of capital claret
along with him in his "den," as he called his parlour, in which I
noted, scattered about, some dozens of newspapers and especially
several copies of Bell's Life.
When opportunity offered I asked my friend who his fellow-lodger
was. "Well," he replied, "he is, or rather has been, on the press,
having some three or four years ago been connected with one or
other of the minor weekly publications; but he is now, he tells me,
playing a far more profitable part; he has become a racing tipster
and makes a good income at that business. His plan is to select
about ten or a dozen of the most likely horses and send a different
one to win the race and another, or perhaps two others, to get
places, to each of his customers, taking care, of course, to keep a
record of what he does, and the names and addresses of those who
correspond with him.
"Two or three years ago he made quite a hit with a horse called
Little Wonder, which, as I dare say you know, won a Derby. That
event, my dear boy, set him on his legs; the landlord of the big gin-
palace not far from here, who won a good round sum by means of
his tip, gave him a present of fifty pounds, and judging from his
correspondence and the many persons who evidently call to consult
him he must be making money, but whether or not he may be taking
care of it is another matter. I suspect, however, it is with him as it
often is with others similarly circumstanced, a case of 'lightly come,
lightly go.'"
This plan, often since adopted, of sending different horses for wins
and places to the different applicants for tips, was in my opinion
quite a stroke of genius; the "fine art" of tipping indeed.
Such reminiscences might be multiplied. I was at one time brought
into contact with several adventurers of similar kidney to those
described, and there are no doubt aged turfites who could
supplement what I have said. Previous even to the period I have
been attempting to illustrate there was being published a regular
racing circular, the precursor of the Lockets, Judexes, and Walmsleys
of a later period, whilst newspaper tipping, especially in the columns
of certain of the London weekly newspapers, was greatly extended;
in not a few of them a "real poet" gushed forth his prophetic lore,
and, as has been stated already, not a few of the poetic predictions
perpetrated some fifty years ago were exceedingly felicitous in their
diction, considering the sometimes very uncouth matter that had of
necessity to be dealt with. I remember reading upon one occasion a
collection of such poems in a Bow Street tavern (it was kept, I think,
by Baron Nicholson), and of being struck with the halting lines and
bald phraseology of three or four of the Seven Dials sort, that used
at one time to be hawked round the public-houses at which sporting
men were wont to congregate. One sample of the doggerel—I am
not speaking now of the graceful contributions published by Bell's
Life or The Sunday Times, but of the Cattnach kind, written for
recital in public-houses, one of which I well remember—proved a
fortunate tip, as it wound up with an excellent prophecy:

All who desire to quench their very great thirst

Must back my bright fancy, brave Pyrrhus the First.

Another of the kind, after dealing with all the animals likely to start
for the race (more than a dozen), pronounced boldly in favour of the
horse that won, winding up his narrative with the following rather
clumsy lines:

Now this fair chance is given, play you your cards right well,
Take my advice—down with your dibs on the bold Dayrell.

I am quoting these lines from memory, and another concluding

couplet dwells in my remembrance:

Coldrenick! Coldrenick! the crowd loudly cry,

But Attila's the animal that wins, in my eye.

afterwards altered by "the poet" to:

 Coldrenick! Coldrenick! the crowd loudly shout,
But to-day I set down as Attila's day out.

In respect of the art of really "poetical" tipping, there are few who
know how very difficult it is to render the matter presentable; the
names to be introduced are sometimes not amenable to the
treatment of the poet, no matter how heartily he enters on his task.
As one gentleman said to the writer, "to work all these probable
starters into readable rhymes, far less to clothe them with some
degree of poetic fancy, would need a couple of Tennysons, four
Brownings, and half a score each of Swinburnes and Buchanans
rolled into one, and even then the product of the lot united might
not seem to the editor all it ought to be."
Nowadays every newspaper of importance has to furnish a daily
modicum of sporting intelligence, which proprietors find to be a
costly item in the ever increasing sum of their expenditure. But it is a
circumstance that cannot be helped; there is in reality more interest
taken in the handicaps for the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire by
five-sixths of the readers of the daily papers than there is in all the
other items of news added together; indeed, it is not going too far
to affirm that two or three of the daily newspapers are indebted for
the larger portion of their sales to the fact of their giving every
morning a detailed programme for the races of the day, as well as
other sporting intelligence. Excellent information of its kind is
purveyed by the members of the sporting press, who contribute to
these journals; but the tips given are, except to the merest novices,
of little use, as veteran bettors can, by the aid of their Ruff or
McCall, select horses for themselves.
In addition to the racing news contained in the ordinary run of
newspapers, there are three daily journals published all the year
round which are solely devoted to sporting news, and these papers
deal of course in "tips," and some of them afford a place in their
columns to a full score of the daily increasing army of vaticinators;
and yet, as must be patent to those who devote time and attention
to the study of such matters, no betting man could possibly make a
fortune, or even earn a living, by abjectly following either or all of
the honest newspaper tipsters referred to.
It is amusing to note how some of the more "screeching" of the
newspapers comport themselves. When one of them, for instance,
after a period of six or seven weeks, becomes some day so fortunate
as to select three or four horses that win as many races, it shouts
out next day in loud tones so that all may have news of its
prescience—a supremely Irish mode of telling readers that to follow
its tips would be ruinous. One day's luck out of twenty or thirty
simply means to backers "fell despair," and much of it. There is (or
was lately) a tipster who is never done sounding his own praises; "as
I predicted, Chance did the trick easily," "my selection Accident in a
walk," "I gave two for such and such a race, and my first selection
Happy-go-lucky literally romped in."
But what of that, when backers of the two lost their money, the
romping in horse starting at odds of 3 to 1 on him! Let us suppose
that some sanguine speculator had risked a five-pound note on each
selection (because when two horses are selected it is necessary to
back both in case of missing the winner), the result would have been
a loss of £5 on No. 2 and a gain of £1 13s. on No. 1, showing a
balance to the bad of £3 7s. But, notwithstanding, the tipster in
question crowed over this feat of tipping, just as a bantam cock does
when he is surveying the half-dozen inmates of his harem.
These details will not probably be pleasant to the gentlemen of the
sporting press; but there are among them several who have no
occasion to assume that my remarks are personal, because they are
persons possessed of knowledge, who announce their selections in a
modest manner, and give good reasons for their faith; but for the
kind of tipster who told his readers not only that Pioneer would win
the race for the City and Suburban Handicap, but would do easily, I
have but scanty respect. That tipster must surely be a green hand at
the business! Why did he not add that if the horse did not win easily
he would eat him? "Will win," instead of "may win," is a mistake in
tipping often committed by some even of the veteran press tipsters.
Pressmen who review past races and prophesy on future events are
compelled, like jockeys, "to ride to order"; in plain language, they
must found their tips on the public form of the horses commented
upon. It is not any part of their work to "guess" that any particular
horse will win a race; hence it is that the professional prophets are
now and again completely "floored" by the victory of an animal they
dared not even assume to have been possessed of a chance. It is
always on the cards that an outsider may win.
There are every day busily at work at the present time an army of
over two hundred and fifty advertising tipsters—pure adventurers,
recruited from all sorts and conditions of men. The writer took pains,
three or four years ago, to ascertain, by personally interviewing a
number of them, what manner of men they were. His idea of the
kind of persons he had supposed them to be was at once
corroborated, as the first of them with whom he could obtain an
interview he immediately recognised as a bookmaker who had
welshed him at Ascot two years before; another of the fraternity was
identified by a friend as a "swell cabman," who used to have a
lucrative connection in the City, his customers being chiefly
stockbrokers and bankers' clerks; but more surprising than either of
these was the discovery that among the motley crowd, and
evidently, from the fact of two clerks in an outer office being busily
engaged in filling up telegraphic forms, doing a roaring trade, there
was a younger son of a very well known and wealthy London citizen,
who, having failed at the University, and "gone to the bad" in
business, had taken to tipping.
Well do I remember reading one morning in The Standard that Bill
Jones, one of "the ruins" bookmakers, had been sent for ten days to
prison as a rogue and vagabond for betting, the alderman who
passed the sentence being the uncle of the tipster to whom I have
been alluding!
Could a census be taken of these prophets, embracing their
antecedents, it would be found that not a few of them were persons
who had lost money in backing horses or in laying the odds against
their chances, reminding us of the celebrated definition of the critics
being "men who have failed in literature and art."
As has been remarked in the course of the foregoing observations,
the art of tipping is now a business over which no disguise is
thrown, although an occasional advertisement still crops up in the
old style. One or two of the present-day tipsters correspond with
"gentlemen only," but on being communicated with, these persons
do not seem particularly anxious to restrict the number of their
clients; what they really want is "a remittance." At the present time
there are tipsters who carry on business in different fashions; some
ask for a fee that will cover a week's work, others seek an all-day
remittance, whilst not a few deal in single-horse wires or "paddock
snips," as they designate their information. There are also tipsters
who ask only to be paid by results. "Put one shilling on each of the
horses I select for you to back, and if one wins, remit me the odds
obtained," indicates the mode of doing business adopted by such
prophets.
As a matter of course, the tipsters of the time are ever varying their
names and addresses. When they make a series of hits under one
designation they trade on that as long as they can, but when
business begins to decrease because their tips fail to disclose
winners, then a change of locality and another name gives chances
of renewed good fortune. Thus the man who was "A. 1." a month
ago is now figuring as "X. Y. 3.," whose tips, "privately given," made
the fortunes of several gentlemen two years ago, "so that I" (that is
"X. Y. 3.") "am induced to allow the general public to participate in
my information." About the period of the Derby in each year I take
stock of the tipsters' advertisements, and have found, as a general
rule, that only about thirty per cent. of those who advertised in the
previous year remain in the field—the others having either retired or
changed their names and addresses.
The class of tipsters of whom I have been writing earn a great deal
of money, but many of them spend it recklessly, never thinking that
they may be overtaken by the proverbial rainy day. Judging from the
vast number of telegrams which are despatched on busy race-days,
two or three thousand pounds a week must reach these tipsters, the
majority of whom make it a rule, I fancy, to incur no expense for
information, although some among them are always boasting of
their staff of highly-paid assistants. These men take the tips given in
the morning newspapers and retail them to the fools who trust them
for a shilling, or perhaps half-a-crown, whilst the simpletons who
purchase the information could obtain it for one penny, and all the
news, political and social, as well!
Of the fools who are born in every minute of the day and night, a
very great number deal with the advertising tipsters to their ultimate
loss. It is only right, however, to let it be known that there are a few
honourable men among the blacklegs who take much personal
trouble and incur considerable expense in obtaining information of a
reliable kind for those who trust them. But these men fail to make
backing pay; they no doubt experience runs of luck, but even with
runs of luck the balance at the close of the year is sure to be on the
wrong side of the account.
The proprietors of several weekly racing periodicals at present
published, not satisfied seemingly with the sales of fifty or sixty
thousand copies which they say their papers attain, send out daily
tips by telegraph, or pen nightly letters to all who will pay the
requisite fee, and according to their own accounts of what they
achieve their success as tipsters is enormous; but it may be fairly
stated on behalf of the gentlemen who cater sporting news for the
daily press, that considering the difficulties incidental to the
formulating of their prophetic work, they do wonderfully well,
although it has been often stated against them, as a matter of
reproach, that they "follow the money"—in other words, tip those
horses which are being or are likely to be heavily backed.
 MODERN BETTING ILLUSTRATED
AND EXPLAINED.
I.
Having received the selection of his tipster, or having become
enamoured of a horse selected by himself, the bettor proceeds to his
club or other rendezvous where he knows he will find a bookmaker
ready to lay the odds against the horse of his choice.
In this he finds no difficulty. In large towns and cities, and in smaller
seats of population also, there are persons whose business it is to
accommodate such customers. Bookmakers and backers have many
ways of coming together; they meet at divers times and seasons and
in divers places as a matter of course, and during those months
when there is little or no horse-racing they keep up acquaintance
with each other at billiard matches and in their clubs; indeed,
sporting events of some kind on which "a nice little bit of betting"
may crop up are always on the tapis, whilst during the winter season
there are usually a score or so of steeple-chase meetings which are
provocative of speculation in bookmaking and betting circles. The
great coursing meetings which take place in the season when racing
is pretty much at a standstill also give rise to a vast amount of
betting, of which very little is known, because it is not published
from day to day.
The enormous extent to which betting on horse-racing goes on all
the year round is known to those only who make the matter a
special study. It has been computed by persons who should know
that not less than five thousand bookmakers are daily engaged
throughout the United Kingdom in laying the odds against horses to
stakes ranging from sixpence to perhaps, on some occasions, as
much as five hundred or even a thousand pounds. Taking it, for
illustrative purposes, that each layer of the odds deals only with a
hundred customers, it becomes obvious that there must be at least
five hundred thousand persons engaged in betting. The exact
number, however, could it be ascertained, would doubtless prove
much in excess of these figures. Were it said that at present there
are over a million persons who take an interest in horse-racing or in
some of the other sports and pastimes of the period to the extent of
backing their opinions by a bet, it would not probably be an
exaggeration.
In one Scottish city there is, it has been calculated, a hundred
bookmakers at work every day on the streets or in clubs or offices,
doing business with all comers at market rates, and to stakes
varying in amount from shillings and half-crowns to "tenners and
ponies" (£25). As that city contains a population of over half a
million individuals, it affords data for calculating that there may be
two hundred bookmakers for each million of the population
congregated in the great cities and larger towns of the kingdom,
which for London alone would give more than one thousand layers
of the odds, whilst Manchester, Liverpool, Bradford, Leeds, and
Birmingham, will undoubtedly have a number correspondent to their
population. "Here, every one bets," said a London club steward one
evening to the writer, whilst busy entering names for the annual
Derby sweep, "every one from the City to the West End; the cabman
who brought you from the railway station, the porter who took your
hat, the man who sold you that copy of the special Standard, all bet,
and in hundreds of our public-houses and tobacconists' shops you
can find a bookmaker if you want him."
A glance at what takes place in large cities and big provincial towns
every day, but more particularly on days set apart for the decision of
important races, shows hundreds of people rushing about to
interchange their tips and opinions and to learn what is being done.
On such days telegraphic messages rain into the more important
clubs, of which there are from six to twenty in each of the towns
named, and in these places from three to thirty bookmakers will be
found ready to bet with all comers.
In these clubs may be seen groups of bettors each with an eye on
"the tape," which winds out its automatic lists of the running horses,
their jockeys, and the odds at which they are being backed in the
ring, followed in due course by the name of the winning and placed
horses and that important item of information, the "starting price,"
so much valued by bettors. As race follows race the same routine is
repeated, so that a flutter of excitement is kept up till the
programme is exhausted. Winners over the first race take heart and
go on speculating, while men who have lost make an effort to
retrieve their bad fortune by extending their investments, and thus
the game continues till the last race of the day has been decided.
There are men constantly engaged in betting who in their own
circles are not suspected of doing so. Some of them do so by the aid
of friends who possess a knowledge of the business, others steal
into the bookmakers' offices, and looking about them fearful of being
observed, whisper their business to the layer of the odds or his
clerk. The lame and halt, the blind and dumb, the rich and the
ragged, daily rub shoulders in quest of fortune in the betting arena.
Men with well-ventilated boots and guiltless of linen under-garments
pass their shillings or half-crowns into the jewelled hand of the
bookmaker, who at once rattles off an entry to his clerk: "6 to 1 Gold
for the Fortunatus Stakes."
A score, perhaps, of such poverty-stricken gamblers could not
among them muster clothes of the value of the albert chain and
pendant hung from the watch of the bookmaker's penciller.
Racing to-day spreads itself over a wide field, and to witness the
decision of such races as the Derby or St. Leger Stakes, the Chester
Cup, the City and Suburban Handicap, or the Royal Hunt Cup at
Ascot, tens of thousands will assemble between the classes and the
masses, each person seemingly more interested than the other.
Some are on the scene from pure love of sport, others from their
desire to bet, and when a race is decided, especially one of the great
handicaps which give rise to so much betting, tens, nay, hundreds of
thousands of pounds will have been lost and won, the sum total
being of course made up by a vast number of small and many large
transactions.
Varied estimates have been formed of the amount annually
expended in betting or horse-racing. At the Doncaster St. Leger
Meeting, which lasts four days, there will probably be thirty races
run, from four to fifteen horses competing in each. To accommodate
the persons who bet on these races there will be on the ground not
less, all told, than five hundred bookmakers, and assuming that only
£20 are drawn by each of them over every race, that would
represent a total amount of £300,000 risked on the thirty races run
during the four days. An exponent of racing finance said some years
ago, in an article contributed to The Edinburgh Review: "Taking it for
granted that £1,500 only is risked by bettors on each of the small
races run during the season, and that there are say 2,600 such
contests, the total will amount to nearly four millions sterling! To
that sum must be added the money risked on the larger races. On
the popular betting handicaps, such as that run at Lincoln, the City
and Suburban, the Royal Hunt Cup, the Northumberland Plate, and
several other important racing events, not forgetting the two great
Newmarket handicaps of October, quite a million sterling will be
represented."
To affirm that a sum of from four to five million pounds is annually
risked in bets on horse-races looks like wishing to play on the
credulity of the public, but good reasons exist for believing that the
amount named is about right, and under rather than over the real
total, could it be ascertained. It is still possible to back a horse
running in a big handicap to win from twenty to fifty thousand
pounds. Roseberry, the property of Mr. James Smith, won both the
Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire in the same year; Mr. Smith taking,
it was stated at the time, a sum of over a hundred thousand pounds
out of the ring by the victory of his horse. The event was remarkable
as being the first occasion on which these two races were won by
the same animal. The public benefited largely by the victory of
Roseberry; it would be no exaggeration perhaps to say that two
hundred thousand pounds would fall to be paid in all, but the
bookmakers had of course the sums betted against all the other
horses that ran to pay with. There were twenty-nine running in that
year's Cesarewitch, all of which were backed at some price or other,
the favourite, Woodlands, which started at the odds of 4½ to 1
against its chance, being heavily supported.
There are writers on turf matters who maintain that there is not now
so much betting as there used to be, but that contention can only
apply to particular races; for, as a matter of fact, there is in reality
five times the amount of turf speculation to-day that there was forty
or fifty years since. Take Scotland as an example; half a century ago
there was no person earning a living by "bookmaking" alone. True,
the "lists" have been "put down," but clubs have arisen, where
betting, as has been stated, is going on every day and all day long.
Races to which the lists applied were, comparatively speaking,
seldom on the tapis, although betting on them, it is right to say,
began long before the day fixed for the event to be decided, so that
bettors were afforded ample opportunities to "back their fancy."
Even at present there are books open on the Cesarewitch and the
Cambridgeshire months before the horses are entered for them.
The English betting men lately carrying on business in the French
towns of Boulogne and Calais betted on these handicaps, as may be
said, all the year round. These bookmakers betted with all comers
chiefly for ready money, and have been known to lay from five to
fifteen thousand pounds against each of two or three of the horses
engaged in a popular race. With the daily betting now prevalent, and
the occasional spurts which take place over important races held at
Manchester, Derby, Leicester, Sandown and Kempton Parks, it may
be taken for granted that the amounts involved, so far as totals are
concerned, are greatly in excess of what they have ever previously
been estimated as being.
Those who maintain that "the betting of to-day is nothing to that of
forty years ago," usually cite in proof of their assertion the large
sums which were wont to change hands over the Derby, such as the
£50,000 won over St. Giles, or the £150,000 that Teddington's
victory cost the ring, one of the members of which paid one of his
customers a sum of £15,000 the morning after the race. Many
reminiscences of big sums lost and won over the Blue Ribbon of the
Turf have appeared in print, and also of the amounts won at the
lists. These were large, no doubt, but the money as a rule went into
few hands. When the big bettors, who had the entrée of Tattersall's,
were paid their twos and threes or ten thousand pounds the money
was exhausted; but not fewer than twelve or fifteen thousand
individuals would probably draw from five to fifty pounds each over
Bluegown's victory in London, whilst quite as many persons
scattered over the United Kingdom would pocket lesser sums.
That the "small money" expended to-day in betting soon
accumulates can be easily proved. Here is one way, for instance, of
arriving at an illustration: there are at the present time about twelve
thousand public-houses in London, nearly all the frequenters of
which take some degree of interest in the Derby or other race, and
assuming that each house on the average has two hundred and fifty
regular customers, of which one hundred will have a bet on some
race of the season, that gives a big figure. Should each person back
a horse by even the outlay of a modest half-crown, the total money
so invested would sum up to the very handsome amount of
something like £150,000, and certainly quite as much would be
risked by more daring backers.
In this view of the case it is in vain to tell us that betting is declining,
either on the Derby or any other event of turf speculation. The great
obstacle to big bets being made is the miserly rate of odds now
offered by bookmakers. In the case of Surefoot, that did not win the
Derby of 1890, the odds laid on that horse at the start required the
investment of £90 to win £40, a luxury that only people with more
money than brains were able to afford.
In the turf market the bettors—the backers are here meant—have,
of course, the worst of the deal throughout, the money risked
finding its way into a very few hands at the end of the chapter.
Backers come and backers go day by day, but the bookmaker, who
plays a prudent part, holds his place and strengthens his position
more and more. Those familiar with the incidents of betting know
full well that not one backer of horses in every hundred can live at
"the game." Most bookmakers see ninety-nine of their clients go
down, many of them with great rapidity, the kind, for example, that
come on Tuesday morning and are squeezed out by Friday
afternoon. Others prolong the struggle for a time by being able to
fight a stronger battle, being, perhaps, more prudent or better
provided with capital. Few of those who in any one year begin to
back horses with the running of the Lincolnshire Handicap are able
to live at the business to the date of the Cambridgeshire, which is
the last "great" race of the season.
Every now and again "plungers," as they are called in the slang of
the period, make their appearance in the betting rings and carry on
their betting with an enormous flourish of trumpets. The financial
feats which they perform in backing horses are frequently chronicled
by the sporting press, and thus it is we learn that "Mr. Blank" ("the
famous plunger" of the period) "had another series of fortune-
yielding innings yesterday, having landed over sixteen hundred
pounds on the day's racing."
Such good fortune is, however, phenomenal and seldom lasts long;
besides, no one takes the trouble to chronicle the many bad days
which Mr. Blank is fated to encounter, the outcome of which leads,
as a matter of course, to the usual finale. Beginning on the plan of
dealing for ready money dealings only, the plunger ultimately does a
large business on the usual credit terms of settlement every Monday,
and in the course of a few months the racing public learn that the
great man has come to grief, and is offering a composition of five
shillings in the pound, in order to lighten his liabilities. So it is in time
with all who tread the same path, even with those of them who
come from the other side of the Atlantic to break the English betting
ring, and who for a season look as if they would prove successful.
Many schemes are resorted to by the bigger class of betting men to
obtain information. Jockeys are pumped, trainers are interviewed,
stablemen are bribed with the view of enabling the plunger to land a
big bet or two at every meeting. There are men, of course, who
would scorn to take a vulgar money bribe, but who do not scruple to
receive a case or two of champagne, or a ten-gallon cask of whisky,
nor are they very angry when some energetic person sends their
wife a diamond ring or their daughter a gold watch. Upon one
occasion while visiting a training establishment, the writer was struck
with the display of jewellery which adorned the person of a trainer's
wife; probably enough, none of the ladies of those owners who had
horses in that man's stables possessed such a valuable collection of
gems as she wore on her fingers and bosom, nor did the lady evince
much reluctance about giving their history—she was not reticent.
It has from time to time been hinted that the money lost by backers
of horses finds its way to a good amount into the coffers of a few
turf sharks who are banded together in "a ring," and who have
dealings with not a few of the training fraternity as well as with a
number of the jockeys. There may be a degree of truth in what has
been said by certain newspapers with regard to this mode of
conspiracy, but much of this kind of gossip which percolates through
the columns of the press is only gossip—not gospel. Even if it were
founded on fact it would be difficult to find proof of such misdeeds.
Those persons who have the best chances of making money by
means of horse-racing are the men who act as go-betweens for
jockeys, or for trainers, or for such owners of horses as are also
keen betting men. Of late years one or two of this fraternity have
come to the front, having proved wonderfully successful at the
business and put money in their purses, honestly it is to be hoped.
At any rate they have become wealthy, and from being helpers or
touts on the training-grounds have "risen," as one gushing writer
said about them. In other words, they have now a bank account and
enjoy the luxury of clean linen and water-tight boots, which
hundreds of men who back their "fancy" cannot hope for.
When the tide of "luck" favours those men who court the smiles of
Fortune in racing circles, she seems to lavish her treasures on them
with an unsparing hand. There are men now living at Newmarket
worth thousands of pounds that ten or twelve years since would
have found it difficult to scrape together ten shillings. These are
among the men who have "risen," and so dazzled the eyes of some
of the gentlemen of the sporting press. When they own a horse or
two, as several now do, and one of their animals proves successful
in winning a race, they are at once elevated another step, and
spoken of by some writers as "the astute Mr. So-and-So," or as Mr.
This-and-That, "the clever and intelligent owner" of Cheek and other
well-known horses.
During recent years much has been written and said against the
system of betting for ready money. Of all the "fads" (the reader is
asked to excuse this vulgarism) connected with gambling on the turf
that have become prominent during recent years the denunciation of
ready money betting is certainly the most extraordinary—the most
abused of them all. Ready money betting has been declared illegal.
But why should betting in ready money be wrong if betting on credit
be right? If any kind of betting be proper it most assuredly should be
betting for ready money, than which there ought to be no other kind
of betting. The rules of logic were never surely so much set at
naught as when it was decreed that betting by means of the
payment of ready money—that is to say the depositing of the stakes
—should be stigmatised as being illegal. Probably by an
interpretation of the law there is no such thing as legal betting; it
has hitherto been held that betting of any kind is illegal. Bets are not
recoverable at law; but bets made by one party who acts as agent
for another party can be sued for, and may be recovered; at any rate
the person who instructs an agent to make a bet on his behalf can
be sued in a court of law for the amount of the stake. It surely is
reasonable to argue that if betting for ready money be bad, betting
on credit is worse. Everything points to the probability of betting
when it began being for ready money only, and that as a rule stakes
on both sides were deposited pending the event to be decided. Why
should it not be so to-day?
With the advent of credit betting began the reign of the "blacklegs,"
the nefarious frauds and swindles, the poisonings and pullings, the
watering and watching of horses, with which men who interest
themselves in the sport of kings are now so familiar. Judging from
the tone of recent legislation, what our parliamentarians are wroth
about is, that betting has become a business requiring the
intervention of that middle man, the obnoxious "bookmaker," but it
is really better that it should be so, if betting on horse-racing is to be
allowed to be continued in any shape. Why should men who will
never cease to bet so long as horse-racing goes on be driven to bet
one with another, which is the worst form of speculation? Who can
mention any more humiliating spectacle than that furnished by a
"noble" sportsman "doing" his friend over the Derby, or some other
race? In reality that is the kind of betting pointed at by some of our
turf big-wigs as being the best form of speculation of the kind; to
these men the bookmaker is a disgust.
It is earnestly to be hoped, if horse-racing is to endure, in which
event there must be betting, that the bookmaker will be permitted to
ply his pencil, as also that he will be licensed by the Jockey Club and
be authorised to bet for ready money only. The writer of the article
in The Edinburgh Review, already referred to, puts the case in favour
of ready money in a forcible fashion: "If a man were compelled to
deposit his stake every time he made a bet, he would be more
cautious in betting. Put me down the odds to a monkey is easy to
say, but the monkey (£500) is not so easy to pay if the bet is lost,
and were it to pay at the moment the chances are that no monkey
would be put down."
Betting between private friends is a horror of the worst description.
Think of Major Bobadil laying Ensign Simple 100 to 25 against a
horse which he knows will never be started for the race it is being
backed to win. In such circumstances what would be a proper
designation for Major Bobadil, blackguard or blackleg? It will of
course be said, if you go to a bookmaker he possesses the same
knowledge, and so he may; but then the bookmaker is neither your
mess-fellow nor your private friend. Persons who are determined to
bet ought never to bet with a friend, but should invariably resort to
the professional bookmaker.
It is not necessary to say much more about this phase of betting,
because the arguments against credit and in favour of ready money
are so obvious and so strong as not to require voluminous
illustration. It is quite certain that if a man were required to table his
five, ten, or twenty sovereigns every time he made a bet, betting
would speedily diminish, and far less would then be heard of "turf
iniquities" and crimes of the turf. When, for instance, a man has
betted for a week at Epsom, Ascot, or Newmarket, and fortune has
gone against him, he will stick at nothing in order to be able to settle
his account, as he may have interests at stake which demand
imperatively that Monday shall see his account in process of
liquidation. A man would not perhaps deliberately forge or steal to
obtain a sum with which to make a ready money bet, but there are
circumstances in which he would do so in order to settle his account
when he has been betting on what is called "the nod" (credit).
The following is a case in point. A few years ago a man lost a heavy
sum. He knew well that on the following Monday he must pay or a
fine bet he had of £5,000 to £50 would be at once scratched; the
horse backed having in the interval become a great favourite for the
race. In such case to settle was imperative, and a settlement was
accomplished; how the sum necessary to pay what was due was
obtained was never made public, but it became known to several
persons that a robbery of jewels, of a suspicious kind, took place at
that gentleman's residence on the Saturday night following the
decision of the race. A footman was apprehended on suspicion, but
his master, saying it could not possibly be he who stole the jewels,
declined to prosecute. Happily for the lady whose gems had been
purloined, her husband won his big bet, and she was able to shine in
a newly bought suite of diamonds.
A history of the rise and progress of betting would be full of interest.
It takes two, and occasionally more than two, persons to make a
bet, and, as has been indicated in a previous page, in the earlier
days of horse-racing the amounts betted on both sides were usually
deposited, or in racing argot the money in dispute was "staked," in
the hands of a third party till the event betted upon could be
decided. No data exists to show when the professional bookmaker as
we know him came upon the scene; but it may be taken for granted
that the "penciller" was not evolved at once, but that the system
grew by means of what it fed on, originating, doubtless, in the
practice adopted by certain gentlemen who, having made a series of
bets, were anxious in consequence to get "round," as the process of
hedging is called, or, in other words, to be in a position not to lose
their money, or, to put the matter still more explicitly, to possess a
fair chance of winning something and losing nothing. At the
beginning of racing, and for a considerable time thereafter, what
little betting occurred took place chiefly on the racecourses; but as
time elapsed several men distinguished themselves, or, at least,
became notorious, as "betting men," both giving and taking the odds
all round, and accepting the odium of sometimes being called "legs"
(blacklegs) by such persons as only made single bets, and objected
to the wholesale modes of betting which were coming into fashion.
Before Tattersall's was established as a betting centre, many
gentlemen made their bets in the way indicated, namely, among
themselves and with one another on the racecourse, or at their clubs
and in their houses, and in the more primitive days of sport nearly
always staking the amounts betted with a third party. As betting on
horse-racing increased in magnitude, both in the number of bets
made and the amounts betted, the bookmaker, or professional
betting man, became a necessity, and, as usual, demand soon
created supply.
Since it originated, the incidence of betting has undergone several
changes. About the end of last century it was greatly the fashion to
bet on one horse against the field, and that mode of turf speculation
was long prevalent, and did not change into the present more
extended way of doing business till the present century was well
begun. Such betting was indulged in by the owners of race-horses,
their humour finding a vent chiefly in arranging matches between
their respective animals for sums of money, ranging perhaps from
£50 to £5,000 as might be arranged.
The professional bookmakers who first took the field in opposition to
the "gentlemen legs," as a few of the layers of the odds were
designated, were not, so far as education and manners were
concerned, particularly bright; but in consideration of their being
prompt to pay when they lost, their defective education and lack of
manners were overlooked. Several of the gentlemen who owned
race-horses soon discovered that the mere winning of a stake by
means of any particular race, however large the sum run for might
be, did not reimburse them for the outlays which they had to make
by keeping a stud of horses; hence the horse became an instrument
of gambling, and remains so at the present time.

II.
Betting on greyhound coursing, especially in connection with the
struggle for the Waterloo Cup, run for amid the distraction and
ditches of Altcar, is assumed to be gambling in excelsis. When a
person backs a horse for a race, the event is decided, so to speak, in
an instant; there may of course be a dead heat, but dead heats are
sufficiently rare, and need not be calculated upon. When a man bets
on the Derby, he is delivered from all suspense within three or four
minutes after the fall of the starter's flag. But it is not so in the case
of the dogs. On the average of the courses decided at Altcar, a brace
of greyhounds will keep the bettor in suspense for six minutes or so,
and when it is considered, in the case of a stake in which sixty-four
dogs take part, six races must be run before the backer of a dog to
win the Cup can receive his money, it will be sufficiently obvious that
very long odds ought to be obtained against those dogs which take
part in the struggle. Such, however, as a rule, is not the case, and
sanguine men have been known to accept odds against a dog which
had six races to run, which they would have indignantly refused
against a horse which had only to run once to win or lose them their
money. In the case of one Waterloo Cup the winning dog actually
ran eight times before it was declared to be entitled to the Blue
Ribbon of the leash. What, then, it will be asked, by those who are
unfamiliar with the incidents of coursing, are the rate of odds given
and taken on such occasions? And if the odds offered are false, what
are the figures which would really represent the true chances of the
animals competing in a Waterloo Cup sixty-four?
Some questions, as all the world is aware, are much easier to ask
than to answer, and the question just formulated is one of them. If
the form of the sixty-four dogs which are nominated for the
Waterloo Cup was utterly unknown, the price of each could only, of
course, be represented at what may be called a very long figure—
say, for the sake of even counting, 100 to 1—and when the first
round of the struggle was finished, and thirty-two of the dogs
defeated, the odds, even in that case, against the thirty-two
survivors of the first act of the battle should still be considerable,
five rounds of the battle having yet to be contested. But as the form
of the dogs had become known from what they had accomplished in
the first course, it is vain to expect that 40 to 1 will be offered by
any of the bookmakers—although it is fully that sum, and much
more, against half the number—because as the event proceeds
sixteen of the dogs must be beaten, and so on to the end of the
stake; the sixteen victors will in time be reduced to eight, four, two,
and one. The task which is originally set before the bettor on the
Waterloo Cup is, as a matter of fact, to select out of a pack of sixty-
four dogs that one which will in the end be declared victor, and it is
assuredly no easy task even to persons who are familiar with the
previous performances of the animals. In dog races as in horse
races, the favourite sometimes wins—and the Waterloo Cup has
been taken more than once by the same animal—the winner on the
second occasion starting at pretty short odds. Master McGrath, a dog
belonging to the late Lord Lurgan, won the Cup three times, whilst
the successes of Fullerton have been recently chronicled.
It is impossible to tell what may happen to dogs in such a struggle
as the Waterloo Cup. Some which have previously shown good form
in other coursing matches, even on the same ground, prove
worthless while the battle of Waterloo is being fought, going down
before, perhaps, a foe of no fame in the very first round. Even the
very best greyhound must have good fortune on its side to achieve
such a victory; it must, too, be in the best of health, it must get well
away from slips, and be slipped against a lively hare, and then it
must do all it knows to beat its opponent. A judge is appointed at all
coursing meetings in order to decide which is the best dog in every
pair that is slipped. He judges after a given fashion by awarding to
the runners the "points" which they make, the dog which makes the
greatest number being declared the winner of the course.
To those who are not "up" in the mysteries of coursing a brief
explanation of the mode of judging may be given. Great powers are
invested in the judge; what he says is law, and from his decision
there is no appeal. The brace of dogs being in the slips are let loose
by the slipper "at" a hare, which he runs them on to, so that they
may see it. The speediest dog from the slips will receive one, two, or
three marks, as the judge may determine, the number given being
dependent on the opinion he may form of the race. For a "go-bye,"
the judge may award two or even three points. A "go-bye" is when a
greyhound starts a clear length behind his companion, then passes
him and gets a length in front. For turning the hare one point is
given; for a "wrench," which means diverting the hare from its
course at less than a right angle, half a point is awarded. For a
"trip"—a trip is an unsuccessful effort to kill the hare on the part of
the dog—one point is given by the judge. The killing of the hare
obtains two points if it prove a very meritorious one. To the dog
which, in its course, is awarded a majority of these marks the victory
is given.
Critics and tipsters who attempt a week or ten days before the battle
begins to point out the victor have a rather hard task set them, but
on some occasions the winner is "spotted" with wonderful precision.
As a matter of course, in dog prophecy as in predicting winners of
horse-races, the tipsters either "follow the money" or depend on
"public form" to pull them through.
Great complaints have been made in various quarters about the
chicanery which in some years has been associated with the
Waterloo Cup. Certain members of the committee are very jealous of
the honour of this great coursing match being kept as free from any
stain as possible; but those who have carefully studied the incidents
of the great Altcar gathering are perfectly convinced that there is in
connection with it, to designate it mildly, a good deal of "finessing":
and a large amount of the gambling element has long been a most
prominent feature of the meeting. In some years plenty of wagering
takes place. The Waterloo Cup being set for decision at a season of
the year when much horse-racing cannot take place, and when
betting on horse-racing is not at all brisk, commands the speculation
of the moment, and gives rise in consequence to a vast amount of
gambling. As a popular writer on the turf says, the dogs give
occasion for "one of the biggest gambles of the season."
So long as the Cup is constituted as at present, this game of
speculation will continue. The gentlemen who have subscribed to the
stake do not require to nominate the dog they intend to run till the
evening preceding the first day of contest. It is obvious, therefore,
that by this plan of procedure there is room for any amount of
"manœuvring," and that a nomination may be backed to win
perhaps £20,000 at pretty long odds, while in the end a dog may be
named to fill it which, had its name been known, would have caused
the nomination in which it was to run to become first favourite. This
will be better explained by imagining that the present year's winner
will be able to run again next year; if so, and the nomination in
which it is to run be made public, it will assuredly be backed at a
very short price, say 7 or 8 to 1, long before the night of the draw;
indeed, the moment betting begins, which is usually about the
middle of January or earlier, it will figure in all the lists as "first
favourite." But supposing the dog were next year to belong to a
gambling owner, he would never be a party to its running at any
such odds as has been indicated; he would want most likely, for the
benefit of himself and friends, to back the animal to win some
£20,000, and the longer the odds he could obtain the less risk he
would have of losing money; therefore, he looks about him to find
some gentleman possessed of a nomination but without a dog good
enough to run in such an important stake as the Waterloo Cup. That
gentleman's nomination may be quoted in the public betting at 50 or
66 to 1, so that if it can be arranged that he shall run the dog, a
large sum of money may be won (in the event of victory) at
excellent odds as prices are now arranged.
This sort of thing has occasionally taken place, some of the tactics
employed being scandalous enough; but where there is gambling
there must in time be scandal. Large sums change hands over this
great dog contest, because, in addition to the "long odds" against a
dog winning the stake right out, there is an immensity of speculation
on every separate course, when the "short odds" are taken against
one dog beating the one which goes to slips with it. Probably there
will be five or six thousand persons present at the contest busy
betting on every course, and in this way, in the course of the three
days during which the battle wages, many thousand pounds will
certainly change hands.
Prizes are provided for the thirty-two dogs which are beaten in the
first round of the Cup; these are the Purse and Plate, on which
(locally) a vast amount of betting also takes place. No calculation of
the amount of money which changes hands or is betted on the great
Altcar contest has ever been made. It has, however, been more than
once publicly stated that a Waterloo dog can be, and has been,
backed to win a sum of £40,000 for behoof of its owner and his
friends and followers, while it is often enough the case that dogs
hailing from some populous locality, dogs which have a name, are
entrusted with the sovereigns of four or five thousand persons. It
would be no exaggeration to say, generally, of the Waterloo Cup that
probably a dozen out of the sixty-four dogs nominated will be
backed on the average to win (at the long odds) £25,000 each,
whilst ten may be entrusted with the odds to win some £10,000,
making for these dogs a sum of £400,000, which has been laid at
various rates of odds, and it may be taken that the other forty-two
dogs will be backed before the contest is over to win £100,000. Only
one dog, of course, can win, so that as a rule bookmakers should be
largely in pocket, especially when most of the favourites are beaten
in the first round—no improbable event; other animals then come
into prominence and are heavily backed. A provincial bookmaker,
who never betted to more than pound stakes, told the writer that on
the first two days of Snowflight's year (1882) he gained a clear profit
of £279, and being quite pleased, stopped business and contented
himself the last day with looking on at the gambling of others, and
so making his visit to Altcar a profitable and pleasant holiday.
Two thousand people, it is averred, will each bet, on the average, £1
over every course which is run at Altcar, which, on the Cup alone,
would represent in stakes alone a sum of over £125,000. These
figures—they are but rough calculations at their best—may be taken
for what they are worth, as affording an index of the gambling which
is incidental to the modern "Battle of Waterloo."
Apropos to the name "Waterloo" Cup, it may be mentioned that it is
not at all of heroic origin; as a matter of fact, the stake originated in
the Waterloo Hotel, at Liverpool, which has long since disappeared,
its site being included in the buildings of the central station. This
hotel was in its day a hostelry of some degree of fame and a choice
resort of the coursing fraternity. In that house, then, in the year
1835 the stake was originated, and run for in the following spring for
the first time, eight dogs only taking part in the contest, the winner
being Melanie, a dog belonging to Mr. Lynn, the landlord of the
house. Such was the origin of the present great Altcar contest. At
first an eight dog stake, it speedily became one for sixteen and then
for thirty-two greyhounds. In 1857 the Waterloo Cup reached its
present dimensions, and has ever since continued a sixty-four dog
stake.

III.
Many who desire to become rich with rapidity think the turf a
smooth road to fortune. Every few weeks an appetising paragraph
"goes the round," telling the world that another fortune has been
won on the racecourse, that Mr. So-and-So has "landed" £25,000 by
the victory of a horse in one of the popular handicaps! Such an
announcement excites the cupidity of hundreds, and so a rush takes
place to back many horses for the next important struggle. Very few
who try succeed; fortunes, they soon find out, come only to the
fortunate, and in time many of the eager fighters for the favour of
the blind goddess find themselves hors de combat, and then retire
disgusted from the arena. A few doughty combatants fight on in the
hope of ultimate success, one of them, perhaps, to find, after many
days, that he has become enriched during the struggle.
Some who think themselves wiser than their fellows come early to
the conclusion that the indiscriminate backing of horses, or even
tipsters, or newspaper selections is a blunder, and so resolve to try a
"system," feeling sure that by speculating on a well-defined principle
they must make money. In due time the cleverest think out for
themselves or are put on a plan by some friend, which is morally
certain to prove successful. It may be one of the many systems
known in connection with turf speculation, "following the favourites,"
or backing one's own fancies, or it may be the following of jockeys.
To back the horses ridden by certain jockeys has for years past been
one mode of speculation on the turf. It was first brought to the
notice of the public by a Mr. John Denman, who acted for a time as
a racing commissioner, and who maintained (he published an
elaborate essay on the subject) that it would prove profitable to back
horses ridden by men who were always winning.
In persistently following Barrett, Watts, Woodburn, Canon, or Loates,
or any other jockey, the plan of putting down a given sum on each
mount, win or lose, may be adopted, or a particular jockey may be
followed in sequences of six or seven trials, or even a lesser number
at pleasure, the stake being doubled on each occasion of a loss, till
the end of the sequence, and in cases—no uncommon occurrence—
of a sequence running out before a win has been secured, beginning
again. There are many, some even well versed in turf affairs, who
probably think it almost impossible that Loates, Canon, or Barrett or
some equally clever horseman, could be unsuccessful for seven
consecutive turns; but should the jockey selected prove unsuccessful
even four times running, and then at the fifth trial score a win, the
very meagre price usually offered against a popular rider proving
victorious—indeed, the horse entrusted to him very often starts with
odds betted on it—renders the winning account, on most occasions,
anything but profitable. It is not sometimes a very easy matter to
invest a large sum on a comparatively small race, and in connection
with the mounts of the more popular jockeys the investment of £320
would not often cover previous losses; it might happen on occasion
that £100 would require to be risked to win £30, so that in the event
cited a loss of over £224 would be sustained on the run of six non-
successful mounts in the sequence, and it is needless to say that a
series of such misfortunes would speedily exhaust a pretty well-filled
bank.
To the uninitiated in turf mysteries, for whom this book is more
immediately intended, it may be necessary to explain that a
"sequence" may be arranged to extend over any number of mounts
from two to twelve, or even a greater number if that were practical,
which it is not, because in such case the sum to be invested could
not be "got on," it would have become so large. The sum fixed upon
as a stake may be for any reasonable amount from £1 to £20, only it
is not desirable to fix it at a very large amount for the reason just