GAMBLING AND THE LAW

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 866, 9 January 1930, Page 1

GAMBLING AND THE LAW

Problem Of The Bookmaker MORE CITIZENS’ OPINIONS IDO not hesitate to class all forms of gambling as a pernicious disease and I am not afraid of my opinion. In these words, the Rev. Lionel 11. Fletcher, pastor ol ilie Beresford Street Congregational Church, stated detin itelv this morning that he was opposed to the legalisation ol bo’okmaking in New Zealand. The Sun published yesterday tlie opinions of representative members of the community on a correspondent's suggestion that bookmakers bo legalised to end the present unsatisfactory wav of preventing bookmaking operations.

“Absolutely no,” said Mr. Fletcher, when asked i£ legalisation would tend to improve the position of control. "If the results of the existing restrictions | are not proving as satisfactory as they j should, 1 think that the men who made the laws should have the backbone to carry them out. It is a puzzle to me

why the authorities do not make the police enforce the regulations to the letter, “I see the whole business of bookmaking going on everywhere. My feeling is that there is a growing wave of gambling in New Zealand. : Gambling is nothing but a pernicious j disease eating at the foundations of ; our social law. I am strongly against 1 gambling in all forms, and most cer-! tainly against the suggestion to legalise bookmaking. Morally and on the

grounds of economics, not a thing can be said on its behalf.” UNPOPULAR LAW The difficulty of obtaining c convictions against bookmakers when such cases were brought before juries was stressed by an Auckland solicitor as an indication of the difficulty that would be experienced in attempting to suppress bookmaking. In attempting to set the moral standard of the community; laws sometimes got a little ahead of public opinion. This, he thought, was the case with the present gambling laws. There was absolutely no doufet but that they were contrary to the generally accepted moral standpoint. If the moral standpoint of the com- | munify in regard to the gambling question rose to a higher level the law would not be brought into the contempt that it is at the present time. But despite all the legislation enacted gambling was not being cur tailed. On the contrary, it waj increasing, and with its increase so also would there be a corresponding disregard for the law. He thought there j was no option but to face the facts and amend the law to conform with the general moral standpoint of the community' on the question of gambling. Not only was the present position quite ridiculous, but also distinctly detrimental to the dignity of the law. “The evil that principally concerns j us is the betting that is done by j women and young people.” said Sister Ksther, the well-known social worker. “It is a terrible thing to see a woman who is rearing a family of young children absorbed in this passion lor gambling, and in our work we come across many instances of | it.” POOR PEOPLE GAMBLE Sister Esther said that if it were not for the bookmaker, particularly the type that operated in a smaller way among the poorer classes of the community, gambling would not be carried on to the same extent by that class of people that could least afford it. These people could not afford to go to the races to bet, and the small bookmaker was their avenue for gambling. It was very disheartening, said this social worker, to discover, as they often did, that people who were being helped financially, were betting with the money. Recently information leached them than a man who was put of work and being helped financially ; had gone to the races with his wife in ; a taxj. They had a win and in the ■ evening had dinner in town and went ■ to the pictures, leaving their children to look after themselves. That, she

considered, was a terrible state of affairs. As a social worker, she would like to see bookmakers eliminated entirely as it was through this source that the womenfolk of the country wore being encouraged to gamble. “We depend so much on the mothers of our race. " she said, “and if we could only eliminate these evils and get back to ttie good old-fashioned homes, how much better it would be.” HIGHLY RIDICULOUS An interesting sidelight on the recent betting cases at the Auckland Post Office was given to a Sun representative by a man closely connected with racing. Referring to ihe letter appearing in yesterday's Sun signed “Silver Bettor." he said the information to the effect that the whole trouble arose over a debt owing to a bookmaker was incorrect. It was not a bookmaker that complained, he said, but certain commission agents operating in the City. These agents operated in a big way and their clientele included many quite important personages. When they received telegraphed instructions regarding commissions the agents were naturally annoyed when telephoning the bookmaker with whom they did business to find that the information had already been acted upon, and with surprising speed. He agreed with the interviews pub--1 lished yesterday that the present | situation was highly ridiculous. "It : is really an insult to the Intelligence of the community,” he added. “Everybody in the country knows i that bookmaking is a recognised trade and everybody knows that it will be stopped. The plain fact of the matter is that the law cn this point differs from public opinion, and the natural result was that the law was flatly ignored. Tiiis state of affairs was not at all desirable, and the only remedy as I see it is to amend the law so as to bring bookmaking under control ”

PROTECTING PUBLIC A railway servant was discovered this morning in a mood for a discussion on bookmakers and horseracing. His view was that of the average employee of any business, he said. He did not think harm would be done were bookmaking to be legalised. "Under the present laws, there is no guarantee about the return of any bet placed with a bookmaker —the whole transaction is outside the law and there are no legal rights about it,” he said. “Legalise bookmaking and you have a definite transaction, subject ro legal judgment in the case of a difference of opinion, between the man placing the bet and the book maker. You would think that th 1 present regulations would not encourage betting with bookmakers, but everyone knows that their betting business is very wide. You see bookmakers’ agents everywhere. If you bet on a totalisator. you don’t have the privilege of being able to raak™ a small bet. I think betting w-ould decrease if bookmakers were allowed on the courses. People will go to the races, and the bettor who now has to have 10s as his smallest bet on the totalisator would, with bool, makers, be able to laj' a smaller beThey don't look down on bookmakers in England or penalise them, and mojtt people would welcome the idea of making bookmaking lawful.” He thought bookmakers would net be stopped from operating even with more restrictions than those in force at the present time. He also thought. New Zealand newspapers should be allowed to publish dividends, as m Australia. This would be another guarantee for the public.