A bookie’s equipment

This bookie’s bag and betting board were used by Canberra bookmaker Jim McMahon and were typical of the equipment used by bookmakers throughout Australia in the 1980s.

The betting board shows the field (race participants) with the odds against each horse’s name. The favourite (Phar Lap) is in red. When McMahon donated the betting board to the Museum, he set it up with a field of famous and fictitious horses.