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- Wagering money on the outcome of a game,
- race, or other event, not necessarily a
- sporting event. In the UK, on-course betting
- on horses and dogs may be through individual
- bookmakers at given odds, or on the tote
- (totalizator), when the total amount (with
- fixed deductions) staked is divided among
- those making the correct forecast. Off-course
- betting is mainly through betting `shops'
- (legalized 1960) which, like bookmakers, must
- have a licence. Football betting is in the
- hands of `pools' promoters who must be
- registered with a local authority to which
- annual accounts are submitted. The size of
- the money prizes is determined by the number
- of successful forecasts of the results of
- matches received; the maximum first dividend
- on football pools is fixed at million. In
- France, there are no individual bookmakers;
- all betting is through the Pari-mutuel, the
- equivalent of the British totalizator.
-