PUNTING’S GLORY DAYS

Q You were part of an era when bookmakers thrived. How big was the betting interest?

A Getting towards 1975 things took an uphill spiral. Punters were coming to the track and started betting bigger and bigger to the point where we had professional punters flying in from Melbourne and Sydney to bet at the Gold Coast.

Punters were five-deep with cash in front of you and you had to duck and weave if you wanted to get across the ring. Betting ledgers in those days were manual and you had to have one clerk trying to keep up with bets from the front and back for the members and the public area. At the end of the day we would be there finalising things for hours.