OVERSEAS LOTTERIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 30, 27 September 1946, Page 4

OVERSEAS LOTTERIES

SOME interesting figures will be revealed to the Gaming Commission when it inquires into the extent of operations in New Zealand of overseas lotteries. The continued success of New Zealanders in one particular lottery does not mean that fickle fortune is smiling on the Dominion; it.means that in proportion New Zealanders are contributing far more to this lottery than are Australians, most of whom are catered foi by their own State lotteries. And New Zealand’s big contribution obviously is due to the fact that the present system of art unions is completely failing to cater for the public’s gambling instinct. A clue to the extent of this unadvertised but flourishing lottery in New Zealand is given by the fact that of a recent prize-list.the Dominion gained nine of the 14 major prizes. It is a fair inference from this that of' the total subscription to the lottery, £200,000, no less than £128,000 was subscribed by New Zealanders. And this is just one lottery of a series of varying sizes. Although the subscriptions may be banked in New Zealand to meet prizewinning claims, the fact remains that the taxation proceeds and the authorised margins are not retained in the Dominion. Whether or not New Zealand should meet this competition by extending the scope of its own official lottery is a controversial topic. But to go on pretending that New Zealanders are not participating regularly in huge numbers in an overseas lottery is an attitude that is completely unrealistic and hypocritical.