THE ANTI-GAMBLING BILL

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 34, 4 November 1907, Page 4

THE ANTI-GAMBLING BILL

Tiik Gaming and ' Lotteries Act Amendment, 'Kill which the Government has introduced is an excellent example of what can be achieved by sectional agitation as distinct from the pressure of universal opinion. During recent years we have had dinned into the public's "ears the curse of gambling, and, as nobody has been able to defend what is assuredly a lamentable social evil, the anti-gambling agitation has almost won its way by default. _ It must be admitted that the Bill which the Government has introduced is, happily, free from the extravagance which might have been attempted, and tho measure is, within its owiis four corners, a good one. Whether it will satisfy the opponents of horse-racing is not so certain as that it will satisfy fair-minded men of both the sporting and non-sporting sections of the community. In its earlier sections,. the Bill, following the New South Wales law, strikes a deadly blow in exactly the place where such a blow is required. The provisions for the quarantining of gaining houses, and the extension of the police powers of suppression in connection therewith, have, in New South Wales, had a crippling effect upon that ugly, parasitic industry of the bookmaker and tote-shop proprietor. Having defined " gaming house" in terms of a most liberal scope, the Bill proceeds to provide machinery which will practically make those " gaming houses" impossible of access by any man who recoils from the risks attached to surreptitious lawbreakiug, ■and which, by fixing responsibility upon him, enrols the lettor of houses as an agent in the work of seeing that, the law is not contravened. Hitherto, the suppression of gaming houses has been hampered by certain convenfioiis. of the existing law, but the new provisions supply a weapon that' has long been, wanted. Of the clauses relating to street-betting it is unnecessary to say more than that they deserve hearty approval. ' , . ' In approaching the problem of regiilatmg race-meetings, the Government must have found some difficulty in estimating the concessions which■ should be made to the anti-totalisator section of the community. The conflict lay between respect for that body of opinion on the one hand, and, on the other, the obligations of consistency with the State use of the machine as a source of revenue. As a result, the clauses relating to horse-races are a judicious compromise, in which the propriety of the totalisator is affirmed, and its working respected, while the pruning knife is applied to the undesirable offshoots of the system.i The telegraphic despatch of investments on. the totalisator is prohibited, and advertisements and , notifications respecting betting on forthcoming events- are prohibited, the necessary modification of the prohibition being admitted to permit (lie proper and effectual working of the machines on. the courses.: The majority of racing men will not quarrel with these provisions, though some may mourn the impending disappearance of the "double" totalisator and the discontinuance of the',"onetwo " dividend now in vogue. The Auckland sportsmen, whose opinions we give upon another ,page, and who practically embrace the. Bill with open arms, are probably quite fairly representative of the general body of reputable sportsmen. The people to whose agitations this Bill is an undisguised concession may object that it does not go far enough. They will continue to agitate for their irreducible minimum —the abolition of the totalisator. In this they are not likely to be successful, and, even if successful, the result of their efforts might not prove quite as satisfactory to them as they now imagine. But in the present Bill they can certainly claim to have done good public, service if tho measure passes and they accomplish the downfall of the gaming house and the abolition of strest betting.