A quick look at the history of
bookmaking…

BOOKIES THERE FROM THE START
Bookmakers were not officially
registered in Australia until 1882,
some 72 years after the first meeting
at Hyde Park in Sydney. Up to then
anyone with a bit of cunning and
dare could declare themselves a
bookmaker but many were far from
respectable! Some, after the win of a
favourite, would simply disappear
from the racetrack whereas others
would take several bags with
different names and just change
identity as it suited! The Victorian
Racing Club was the first to provide
for the registration of bookmakers
and other clubs quickly followed suit.

BOOKMAKING AND ACTING SKILLS
GO HAND IN HAND!
Bookmakers don’t tend to get into fist
fights to protect their good positions
on the rails these days — but that is
exactly what the legendary Robert
Standish Sievier did during the
1880’s! Recognised as the first
bookmaker to take a stand (bookies
previously wandered the course with
a notepad!), Sievier was a trained
actor who immigrated to Australia
from England when he was 22. Using
his acting talents to attract attention
(he was also the first bookmaker to
yell out his odds to the punting
public), Sievier is accredited with yet
another first — the use of the now
famous bookmaker’s bag. Not only
that, Sievier also handed out
numbered tickets with the initials of
the runners on them and he was the
first to employ a clerk to record all
transactions. Unfortunately Sievier,
who went under the nickname of “The
Englishman” got involved in one fist
fight too many and after a couple of
trips back to England (where he was
warned off racecourses) and several

altercations with the law he quit the
racing scene after being described,
during a court case, as “a cardsharp,
cheat, thief, welsher, swindler,
adulterer, woman basher and
blackmailer.”

IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM, JOIN
THEM
The first registered female bookmaker
did not take up the bag recently — in
fact it was way back in 1902 that
Helen Vernet, after a successful run
as an illegal operator caught the eye
of Ladbroke’s. Left a tidy sum by her
father, Vernet gambled that away
and decided that bookmaking would
suit her better and she was an instant
success. Not only did women feel
more comfortable betting with her,
but men also utilised her services en
masse and Ladbroke’s soon decided
that she would be a valuable
employee. By 1928 she was a partner
in the famous bookmaking firm —
having proven he rself one of
England’s finest and most astute —
often winning on days when everyone
else lost. Continuing to field despite a
fight with crippling arthritis and
Parkinson’s Disease, Vernet died in
1956 aged 80.

Sol Green.

Sol Green.

SOL GREEN INDUCTED INTO THE
HALL OF FAME
A man who contributed much to the
sport of thoroughbred horse racing, Sol
Green was amongst the 2002 inductees
to the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

Well deserving of this recognition,
Green — who was born in London in
1868, migrated to Australia at the age
of 15, just four years later beginning
what was to become an outstandingly
successful career as a bookmaker.

Opening the Melbourne Tattersall’s
Club, Green also set up a national
mail order doubles book and he then
went on to become a highly successful
racehorse owner and breeder.

Setting up a stud at Warrnambool,
Green raced such top horses as
Comedy King (Melbourne Cup,
Futurity Stakes — sired two
Melbourne Cup winners), Gothic (two
Newmarket Handicaps, William Reid
Stakes, Caulfield Stakes, Futurity
Stakes, C.F Orr Stakes, Melbourne —
now Mackinnon Stakes) and
Strephon (VRC Derby, Chipping
Norton Stakes, AJC Plate — now
Queen Elizabeth Stakes).

Green retired from bookmaking in
1913 and died in 1948.

Photos courtesy Australian Racing
Museum.