GREYHOUND RACING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5220, 23 December 1927, Page 4

GREYHOUND RACING.

THE NEW CRAZE,

EFFECTS OF BETTING.

That greyhound racing has increased betting and gambling to an alarming extent is already obvious,

ana mere are signs of a campaign againat tnat evn belore it assume in vpui liens mat mane it diincult Ox ivmeuy and control, vve pave quoteu uuovc, suys, "rumio Opinion,” ,a leader

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winch is based on tne following important resolution passed by tne Saixprd Mead Teachers’ Association: — “mat this Association views with cousiuernbie misgiving tne proposeu estabnsiiment oi. a givyhouna-racine track in baliord. in our op nion, it is a direct encouragement of the evils of betting, and would have a disastrous inuuciice on children, while not increasing facilities for healthy outupor exercise.”

“is greyhound-racing ,a desirable aduition to our popular sports.' ?” asks a writer in the Manchester Guardian- “ The question is being hotly debated just now, and we are told on one hahu that the spectacle of highiy-traineu .and specialised animals chasing a piece of electrical machinery is very beautiful, and therefore stimulating to tne aesthetic sense, and, on the other, that the whole business is irrevocably entangled with betting, and, therefore, socially evil. “Op. such an issue people are likely to give judgment according to their prepossessions. The moralist .who considers all betting and gambling to be inherently bad will have no hesitation in deciding one way; the latitudinarian who says map is instinctively a gaming animal and is doing no wrong in indulging his instinct so long as. he does so temperately will decide another.

“But between these extremes there is a school of opinion which, starting with no hard-and-fast etnical theory about betting, takes account pf observed facts and regards the growing popularity of greyhound racing with grave apprehension, people of this school fear that the sport heightens the betting fever, produces irregular habits of life among working people, and lowers their tone as citizens and social beings “Whether hound-racing and betting could exist apart need not be arguedIt ‘needs no ghost from the grave’ to tell us, that if betting at the races we,re rigorously suppressed the game would not continue a month. Every candid man would admit as muchGreyhounds galloping at the extent of their strength and leaping with all their wonderful agility do afford a beautiful spectacle; but such beauty does not suffice to draw a crowd of between 12,000 and 20,000 people three times a week to the race track at Belle Vue, Manchester. “The majority of people go there for excitement of a monetary hazard. Concerning the social effects, let us hear what is said by some people who frankly declare they have no concern about the ethics of betting in the abstract.

“There are men living in Gorton and 6penshaw, and taking some part in the public life of the city, who regret that the racecourse at Belle Vue was ever opened. ‘Why is it,’ they ask, ‘that greyhound tracks are ab ways opened in the midst of industrial populations who can ill afford to risk money by betting ?’ One would like to give their names, but they seem morbidly anxious not to appear in the light of ‘kill-joys’ and crabbed moralists. ‘lt astounded mei,’ said a gentleman to the writer, ‘to see the number of womens who go to the races ■ —young married women, even, who carry their babies with them, and who not only go .to watch, but to bet. Can that be considered good for the life of the district ?’

“A shopkeeper, in the district says that since the races began his turnover has decreased by over £5 a week. ‘A serious thing,’ he, adds, ‘for a small man like me. Not only that, the number of people who used to pay me ready money and who how ask for credit has increased. Knowing my customers, I am certain: that it is the greyhound races, that are responsible.’ Other shopkeepers tell the same tale. “An employer who has four or five youths in his service recently told a friend that those youths made a regu* lar practice of borrowing from the older men in the shop to bet at the dog-races, and that every pay-day.the older men were ‘on the pounce’ to rerecover the money lfent before the borrowers got away from the shop. ‘That kina of thing is no good to me,’ said the. employer. “It is sometimes argued that grey-hound-racing has not increased betting, but has merely diverted money risked in one direction—say horseracing—to another. For what it is worth, herej is the opinion of a man who is interested in sport of all kinds and has no puritanical view about betting.

“ ‘Working people,’ he says, ‘cannot go very often to horse-races. Those of them who are regular bettors do their business with street bookmakers. Probably they hand their stakes in to the gentry who accommodate them , before going in to work after dinner. They do not know of their success or failure until they come out again in the evening. By that time their bets for the day are made and done with. Bat if they go to the greyhound races, which are very easily accessible, and are held three times a week, they begin their betting with the first race, and if they lose are tempted to risk largest’ stakes on the next race in order to recover themselves. At any rate, that is a common mode of procedure with people who bet, and the temptation to follow it is very great to any man who likes a hazard.’ “But whether greyhound racing has increased the practice of betting or not, the fact remains that betting is the life and soul of the business. Possibly somei people were startled the other day when it was stated officially that the dog-races alone were yielding about £lO,OOO a week to the Treasury in the shape of betting tax.”

“It is said that the spectacle of the, leaping greyhounds under ;a flood of

electric light is one to stir the pulses of the beholder,” comments the “Inquirer.” “But evidence is overwhelming that what draws many, probably most, of the spectators is not the racing itself hut the opportunity of betting on it; and how much betting takes place may be estimated from the statement that some £lO,OOO is taken weekly by the betting tax.