Tote betting was legalised in 1928, just in time for the opening of Northolt Park. Tote facilities were designed into Northolt Park from the start. The Tote building pictured here in use in the early Thirties, was built to the east of the Main (Tattersall's) Stand and straddled the Silver Ring and Tattersall's enclosures, having ten windows in each. Above the windows, punters could look at large displays showing how much had been placed on each of up to 24 horses as well as the total amount bet.
Functional rather than architecturally striking, it was fully mechanised and was claimed to be the most efficient in the country. The Tote was a major source of income. By 1936, its turnover was £483,000 a year, which was considerably more than on any course in the country. Part of the reason for this was, of course, the 56 days racing during that year. Ascot meanwhile took only £250,000, but raced on just four days!
In 1935 a new grandstand was built, unusually, on the roof of the building, with two lifts to carry racegoers to the top. This stand gave the best view of the entire course, although it was too far east of the winning post to spot the leading horse in a close finish.
In addition to the Tote building, the main stands had Tote facilities built in for the convenience of racegoers and photographs show a further Tote building behind the cheapest stands to the east.
The Tote was a problem for many established racecourses. Most, like Ascot, had relatively few racing days a year and they could not afford the high capital cost of the equipment needed to run the operation efficiently. Portable Tote machinery was tried, but proved impractical and unreliable, and manual processing was too expensive. At Northolt Park, with it's busy racing calendar, the equipment was used to the full. In 1937, about 240,000 people visited the course and around £496,000 passed through the Tote betting machines, both a record.
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