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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Subjects
Culture and Customs
Recreation and Sport
Gambling

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Gambling

Subject

Australia’s First Lottery

Royal Commission into Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality 1891

Pak-a-pu

Star City Casino

Tattersall's Hotel

Tattersalls Club building

Royal Commission into Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality 1891

50-50 Club

City Tattersalls Club

NSW Lotteries

TAB

Tattersall's Club

Crick, Paddy

Packer, Kerry

Bank of Australia lottery ticket number 2890, issued to John Sterling, dated 19 October 1848, drawn on 1 January 1849. Endorsed to David John Thomas for £4 on back

Bookmaker in the Members' enclosure at Randwick Racecourse, 1958

Bookmaker with tote board, Warwick Farm Racecourse 1960

Cover of Tattersall's Club Magazine, October 1929

Crowds in front of the totalisator board, Randwick racecourse c1935

Grand protest meeting: churches vs. gambling

Hello, I am the NSW Treasury and I'm an addict', 2003

Interior of Chinese gambling house 1871

Lucky Envelopes, Kings Cross 1970-71

Night trotting Harold Park February 1966

Page from Collin's 'Account of the English colony in New South Wales' about the death of John Lewis 1794

Phoenician Club members reading the Maltese Herald, 1975

Raid on an alleged tote, Market Street 9 November 1899

Restrictions on spectators for the first race meet at Hyde Park Racecourse in October 1810

Schedule of the lots in the plan of partition of the Bank of Australia : the drawing to commence on Monday, January 1st, 1849

Star City Casino (after Breughel) 1998

Star City Casino 2009

Totalisator windows in the Leger at Canterbury Racecourse 1947

Bill Whittaker, noted Sydney racing journalist, on Kerry Packer, punting and Harold Park 2007

Max Solling on Wentworth Park Racecourse 2009

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Gambling

Australia’s First Lottery

Australia's first lottery, held in Sydney in 1849, was surrounded by controversy and was probably illegal. It was immensely popular however and the government turned a blind eye as it seemed the only way of averting the consequences of a financial disaster.

Royal Commission into Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality 1891

Called at a time when anti-Chinese feeling was high, the Royal Commission took care to inquire into the real situation of Chinese Sydneysiders, and came up with a report that provides a detailed view of life in the community.

Pak-a-pu

Chinese lottery game where a ticket is bought which contains rows of characters from the ancient poem Chian Ji Mun. The master ticket is kept hidden and is marked by the organiser of the game. The player marks a number of characters on their ticket. The ticket closest to the master ticket wins.

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Star City Casino

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The only legal casino in Sydney, the complex also contains theatres, restaurants and a hotel.

Tattersall's Hotel

Hotel on Pitt Street, on the present site of the Hilton Hotel, that was the headquarters of the Tattersall's gambling club. The club had been meeting at the Mayor Inn run by licensee William John O'Brien when in 1858 he built a public room for them to meet and changed the name of the hotel to Tattersall's. In 1878 the hotel was purchased by friends for George Adams, a keen gambler from Kiama. Subsequently also known as Adams' Hotel, under Adams' management it went on to become the home of Tattersall's betting and lotteries after Adams started holding sweeps in 1881 for members of the public, in addition to those being held by the Tattersall's club. In 1891 the building was substantially renovated to plans by Varney Parkes that included the construction of the Marble Bar and an arcade that ran between George and Pitt Street. The remodelled hotel was reopened in December 1892, described in the press at the time as "an hotel superior in its appointments to any in the city". The hotel ceased trading in February 1969 and was demolished, to be replaced by the Hilton Hotel. The Marble Bar was dismantled and rebuilt in the new hotel.

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Tattersalls Club building

Lavish five storey building designed and built for the Tattersalls Club in 1927 on a block that runs from Castlereagh through to Elizabeth Street, facing Hyde Park. The architects were Burcham Clamp & Finch, and it was built by WS Baker & Sons. The building included an indoor swimming pool on the third floor, at the time the only elevated indoor pool outside the United States of America.

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Royal Commission into Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality 1891

Inquiry into gambling among the Chinese community and its links with police corruption.

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50-50 Club

Sydney's best known illegal casino, sly-grog nightclub and cocaine den during the 1930s.

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City Tattersalls Club

Social club that was founded in 1895 by bookmakers in competition to the well-established Tattersalls Club.

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NSW Lotteries

Money raising exercise introduced by Jack Lang in 1930 as a means of solving the government's critical funding situation. To appease churches and other opponents of gambling Lang promised that all revenue would be used to fund hospitals. Legislation introduced in 1931 did not actually mention hospitals, though for some years they were the major beneficiaries. The first lottery was conducted in August 1931. Later the revenue was simply added to the State's general budget. Lotteries are now conducted nationally under licence.

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TAB

Gambling organisation, originally state owned but privatised in all states since 1994.

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Tattersall's Club

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Club established in 1858 for members of the racing fraternity. Founded at Mayors Hotel on Pitt Street as Tattersall's Subscription Betting Rooms, the hotel soon changed its name to Tattersalls with dedicated rooms for the club and its members.

Crick, Paddy

Colourful and feisty solicitor and politician remembered as a racehorse owner and a heavy gambler, rather than one who fought for legislative reform.

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Packer, Kerry

Media proprietor who expanded the empire inherited from his father Frank Packer and revolutionised sport on television, known for his abrasive personality, wealth and lavish gambling habits.

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Bank of Australia lottery ticket number 2890, issued to John Sterling, dated 19 October 1848, drawn on 1 January 1849. Endorsed to ...

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

Bookmaker in the Members' enclosure at Randwick Racecourse, 1958

full record »

By

William (Bill) Brindle

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[A1200, L27087]

Bookmaker with tote board, Warwick Farm Racecourse 1960

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By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[d7_08117 / Australian Photographic Agency 08117]

(Mitchell Library)

Cover of Tattersall's Club Magazine, October 1929

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Contributed By

Internet Archive

[oct71929vol1no.9_202001]

(October 1929, Volume 1, No. 9)

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Crowds in front of the totalisator board, Randwick racecourse c1935

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By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[hood_04897 / Home and Away 4897]

Grand protest meeting: churches vs. gambling

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-an25046917]

Hello, I am the NSW Treasury and I'm an addict', 2003

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-vn3538470]

Interior of Chinese gambling house 1871

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By

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

[IAN09/10/71/184]

Lucky Envelopes, Kings Cross 1970-71

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By

©

Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

Night trotting Harold Park February 1966

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-vn4590516]

Page from Collin's 'Account of the English colony in New South Wales' about the death of John Lewis 1794

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[Dixson Library Q79/60 v. 1, p336]

(An account of the English colony in New South Wales : with remarks on the dispositions, customs, manners, &c. of the native inhabitants of that country. To which are added, some particulars of New Zealand / compiled, by permission, from the MSS. of Lieutenant-Governor King by David Collins ... (vol. 1) )

Phoenician Club members reading the Maltese Herald, 1975

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-an24958019]

Raid on an alleged tote, Market Street 9 November 1899

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Australian Town and Country Journal, 18 November 1899, p40)

Restrictions on spectators for the first race meet at Hyde Park Racecourse in October 1810

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser , 13 October 1810, p1 via Trove]

Schedule of the lots in the plan of partition of the Bank of Australia : the drawing to commence on Monday, January 1st, 1849

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

Star City Casino (after Breughel) 1998

full record »

By

Contributed By

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-vn3696859]

(Type C photograph, from the series Leisureland, 1998 - 2001, Courtesy of the artist) (From the National Library of Australia))

Star City Casino 2009

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Image courtesy of

[0907-2018-36]

Totalisator windows in the Leger at Canterbury Racecourse 1947

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[d1_36546 / GPO1 36546]

(Mitchell Library)

Bill Whittaker, noted Sydney racing journalist, on Kerry Packer, punting and Harold Park 2007

full record »

By

Courtesy:

City of Sydney Council

(From the oral history collection)

Max Solling on Wentworth Park Racecourse 2009

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Historian Max Solling describes the rise and fall of greyhound racing, 'sport of the masses', at Wentworth Park racecourse.

By

Courtesy:

City of Sydney Council

(From the oral history collection)

Recreation and Sport