Bombay Garden Private Club Betting Rules

The Bombay Garden Private Club Betting Rules governed a miniature horse-racing game in a members-only room, balancing a formal betting limit against a loophole based on how many members were present. Their practical effect was to make the size of the gathering—not the size of an individual wager—the decisive condition for the club’s betting regime.

Membership and Access

A visitor could become a member at the Bombay Garden bar by signing an application form; membership took effect immediately, and the new member paid an annual fee of one hundred kroner. The club then admitted the member to a private room and closed the door behind them. This simple procedure made the distinction between members and non-members essential to the rules, even though becoming a member required little more than a signature and payment.

The Race and Its Bets

The room centered on a miniature oval racetrack, about two by four metres, laid out in green felt with seven lanes. Flat metal horses moved jerkily along metal rods, their speed determined by a computer beneath the table. The computer assigned some horses a greater probability of running faster; those probabilities were linked to the odds and possible payouts. Members sat in leather-covered swivel chairs, smoking and drinking beer at a reduced price as they backed individual horses or combinations.

The Twelve-Member Threshold

The club operated in a legal gray area under gambling law. When twelve or more members were present, each member’s maximum stake per race was one hundred kroner. With fewer than twelve, the club’s statutes treated the gathering as a closed circle of friends using the premises as a meeting place; the members could make private bets, and the size of those bets was left to their discretion. Exactly eleven members were therefore often present in the room, keeping the gathering below the threshold and the larger-wager option available. The rule turned an attendance count into a practical way of managing legal exposure while preserving the possibility of substantial private stakes.