Szotyori-Nagy Ágnes (szerk.): A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 2013-2015 (Budapest, 2015)

Tanulmányok - Tóth-Barbalics Veronika: Az 1891. évi lóverseny-fogadási visszaélések és a turf megítélése a hazai sajtóban és politikai életben a századfordulón

The 1891 racing bet abuse and the image

of the turf in the national press and political life at

the turn of the century

VERONIKA TÓTH-BARBALITS

In late 1891 the board of the Hungarian Racing Association banned more than two dozen betters from the Budapest course and revoked the licences of several jockeys. The affair cast a light on the controversial attitudes of the Hungarian public to horseracing and betting. The current study examines the events based on the reports of contemporary daily and specialist press (especially the Vadász- és Versenylap), the minutes of the Hungarian Racing Association as well as the documents of the upper and lower houses of Parliament. It shows how the ban acquired a political undertone during the debate of the national budget. In the lower house the most steadfast opponent of betting on horseraces was the independent MP Ottó Herman, while members of the government consistently supported horseracing, although acknowledging the need for the higher taxation of the turf. The betters banned from the course sued the board of the Association for slander, libel and defamation of character. The upper house refused to suspend the immunity of two of its affected members, Count Elemér Batthyány and Count Tasziló Festetics on the ground that the board of the Association had adhered to its regulations approved by the Ministry of the Interior, and therefore the trials could not take place. The study concludes with an outline of developments to the end of the century.

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