Illegal SP (starting price) bookmaking was considered a scourge by many citizens. However it seems as though most pubs, in the days before the TAB and online betting, had an SP 'bookie'.
During the 1930s SP betting boomed for a number of reasons. During the height of the Great Depression people couldn't afford entry to racecourses but could sometimes risk a small bet of a few pennies or a shilling in the hope of improving their straightened circumstances. Radio and telephone communications also became more commonplace, allowing both bookie and punter access to 'instant' communications.
The South Australian police spent a lot of time and resources catching both illegal bookmakers and those placing a bet. Newspapers were keen to report on the criminal underworld, especially when there might be some slight amusement or twist in the circumstances. Such as the case of George Carter, barman at the Lion Hotel in North Adelaide in 1933.
The News, Wednesday 4 January 1933, p5
HID IN HOTEL CELLAR
Bookmaker's Clerk Fined £60
"BOTTLING WINE"
How George Nelson Carter, barman, of the Lion Hotel, Melbourne street, Lower North Adelaide, was found locked in the cellar of the hotel on December 17 and had been recording bets, transmitted to him from the bar by means of an electric light conduit, was told by the Police Prosecutor (Mr. Bond) in the Adelaide Police Court today.
Carter pleaded guilty to a charge of having been on the premises of the hotel for the purpose of unlawful betting. He was fined £60 with 15/ costs by Mr. Muirhead S.M. in default two months' imprisonment. He was given six months in which to pay. Mr. Bond said Plainclothes Constables Flint, Barrington, Russel and Ryan visited the hotel at 1.30 p.m. on December 17. They forced a trapdoor in the bar and saw Carter in the cellar below.
When Carter was asked why he was locked in the cellar he replied that he had been bottling wine there. Pencils were found in his pocket. There were no signs of bottling having been done. Only two empty bottles were in the cellar. Betting slips were found in the cellar. Carter denied that the entries on them were in his writing. Mr. Bond said that parts of the slips were charred, as if an attempt had been made to burn them. Matches were found on the cellar floor.
Carter had given a sample of his writing, which was similar to that on the betting slips. The bookmaker in the bar above had communicated with Carter by means of a conduit pipe. It was to be said in favor of Carter that he had pleaded guilty, said Mr. Bond.
The Lion Hotel, Melbourne Street looking east, c1910. SLSA: B 10426
The Lion Hotel in Melbourne Street, North Adelaide was first licensed in 1881. It became the Old Lion in 1972 but has since reverted to its original name.