LOTTERIES AND BETTING

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 103, 28 October 1933, Page 8

LOTTERIES AND BETTING

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —In view of the fact that Mr. Healey, M.P., terms gambling on racing one of the "great industries" of Kew Zealand, it will be of great public interest just now to quote the opinion of the Koyal Commission whicft has recently made on behalf of the British Government a thorough investigation into "what the correct use of the English language has designated as "a vice." This important commission's findings have been published recently, and runs into ISO pages and is a social document of the first importance. Maybe it is available now in the Parliamentary Library. The findings arc classified'in relation to— 1. Lotteries, of which the report says: "A large lottery represents gambling in its easiest form. It calls for no skill or knowledge and thus appeals to many who would not, for instance, risk their money in backing a horse. The effects of large lotteries upon character are more subtle and harder to determine, but may well be more important in the long run than the material results. They tend to exalt the results of chance and to encourage a belief in luck, while the draw and the announcement of the results give rise to an unwholesome excitement." 2. Doubt is also cast on the claim that British, hospitals would benefit financially from sweepstakes. The results of such in Ireland is that some hospitals have lost as much as 50 per cent, of their voluntary regular subscriptions and several are now financially embarrassed in spite ot all the ■ "gambling propagandists" declaring the benefits of their methods. Every penny put into gambling is a. deflection from worthy enterprises and . legitimate and desirable business. ' The'facts and figures of *the report prove conclusively that "charity sweepstakes"- are illusory in their benefits and demoralising in social results and a perversion ol the generous impulses of the people by insidious and plausible appeal to the general sympathy for humane institutions. The report further recommends the forfeiture of money found in the post for all fqreign lotteries and the prohibition ot the publication of information about them. ' How then, in view of these consjdered judgments of this British Government Commission, can Mr. Healy or anyone else improve the moral or material good of this nation by.widening the opportunity for his "great industry"? Is it not tune that Parliament was. cleansed of such evidences of low social intelligence and ceased allowing its valuable time to be wasted on propaganda for interests which have a, strangling effect upon economic recovery and the moral rectitude of the people? The most popular verse of the National Anthem just now among the suffering masses looking for real relief is .Confound their politics, frustrate their knavish tricks."—l am, etc., A.A.A.