Attitude Of Chruch To Gaming Poll

Chronicle (Levin), 26 February 1949, Page 4

Attitude Of Chruch To Gaming Poll

in; your 5^ * of Chronicle." of Febrpary 24" a sta.tq-. ment 'dii the attitude of the ehurches to t;he gaming poll, isgued by authority of the N:z;. Raeingj and Trotting Conferenees, calls for eomment-. The statement suggests that the i fear _ of the ehurches that the legaMpg q| off^Qoufse bettipg wop'd increasc gafhbhng: is un--fQunde'd. I wish it were, but it ha? been the, . experience of countries where increased betting fac;lities have been granted t'hat there has been afi increase in the volume of ; betting. For example, in South Australia in 1933 the estimated total betting through totalisators and" bookmakers was £2,140,000. In 1 193.4 betting agencies, under a B.et--iting Gontroi Board, wero e§tab>ished, In 1935 the aprount of money inyested* in betting waS £.4,60.0,000 and .'ip • 193.7" it was £7,685,.Q00, .Anqther exarnple comes out of New | Zealand experience, When the 'totalisator on the racecourse was legalised ip New Zea^nd, it was 'thought by the Legislature that betting, bei'ng given a legal outlet, would "be redueed and the hook--makers would be eliminated. Neither. of these aims. has been aehieved. Rather the reverse has been the case, The conferenees suggest also thaf a legal scherpe of properly con--trolled off-course betting would effectively dea.l with illegai bookmakers. That was not. the -experience of South Australia. There. where bookmakers had the option of becpming legally licen.sed, illegal bookmakers" still continued in business. If illegal bookmakers avoiding taxation 'by failing to registey were able t.o function alongside the South Australian , betting shops, Where legalised bookmakers" and thie totalisator operated together, how much weight can the public attach to, the contehion that the estabiishment of off-co.urse betting ■ in New Zealand would eliminate bookmakers here? In 1936 the State of Queenslan'd, in response to' repr.esentations from inte'rested parties, set up a Royal CommiSsion to investigate proposols for off-curse betting. The coi^mission made the following recommendation: "We recommend that off-t'he-course betting s.hould not receive State recognition in any manner whatsoever, but that betting legislation already on the Statute Book for the suppression of illegal betting be made more effective hy the insertion of provisions which will assist the aut'horities in its administration," The Queensland Government gave legislative force to this recommendation' with the result that the Sydney Sunday Sun and the Morning Herald of March 26, 1937, claimed that illegal betting in (^ueensland was "as dead as the d'odo." If New Ze.aja.pd ?eally "^apted to eliminate the bookmaker it coul'd be done. It could not be done easily or quickly, but by tightening up the law ' geperally against the use by bookmakers of postal and radxo faeilities; and by increasing penalties, a beginnipg eould be made. The thinking of the ehurches is realistlc and, according to their thinking on this very serious public is$ue, to say that a vote for the proposal of the Racing and Trotting Conferences_ is a vote against. the bookmaker just hoes not make sense. It is my own personal opinion that it is less objectiona^l to have in a community a measure of iPegal betting, which the law is endeavouring to check, t'han for a betting shop (it matters little whether the bookmaker be a private individual or the State through the totalisator) to be cipened to b'egin its work of increasing betting and creating more bettors. Yours etc., ALEX. SALMOND. The Manse, Levin, Feb. 24.