What is "sporting book"

Sporting \Sport"ing\, a. Of, pertaining to, or engaging in, sport or sports; exhibiting the character or conduct of one who, or that which, sports.

Sporting book, a book containing a record of bets, gambling operations, and the like.
--C. Kingsley.

Sporting house, a house frequented by sportsmen, gamblers, and the like.

Sporting man, one who practices field sports; also, a horse racer, a pugilist, a gambler, or the like.

Sporting plant (Bot.), a plant in which a single bud or offset suddenly assumes a new, and sometimes very different, character from that of the rest of the plant.
--Darwin.