THE POOR MAN'S BET.

Taihape Daily Times, 28 August 1919, Page 6

THE POOR MAN'S BET.

There are stern moralists who hate the Very idea Ct‘ a poor man putting a shilling on a horse. They belong to leagues and socieities for the prosecution of such sinners, and they have contrived to make his way_ difficult (EEl§,':4 an Eiiglish writcr)_ "But they do nothing whatever tc hammer the rich man wlio be.cl~:s hisfancy for anything from five to flv. thousand pounds. They do not go 0111 to out the telephone wires running in to the ofliceg of the big_ bookmakers nor do they suggest that all their telegrams shall be iiiiphunded. So thc rich man. of even the man of moderatr means, who wants to back a horse has nc, difficulty at all. He rings up his bookmaker or sends a telegram, and ,the thing is done. For the poor man {it is quite different. i Before he can put his money on he {must be quite sure that there is not. ma policeman wandering in the neigh‘.,bour.hood., Then, having wr,ittell his ‘name, the name of the horse and any ,—~,otller necessary details on a scrap of paper, in which he ‘folds the sum he ;proposes to risk, he must slip the :packet into the hand of a person who lounges at 11 street corner with an air of infinite leisure which does not agree with the wary eye with which he watches for the police. A There are hundreds of little bookmaking businesses conducted in this fashion. They are run with admirable honesty, They are as fair in their methods as any of Itlie big concerns which advertise so lavishly, in the sporting papers. But the law compels , them to adopt all manner of furtivc habits. ' Mind, I am saying nothing about the - ethics of betting, I am not concerned at present ‘to .-argue either for or

]against the habit of backing -hol'ses_ [Put 1 do want to suggest that it is ‘horribly unfair that the poor man should be Compelled to feel and behave like a criminal when he is doing ":1 thing‘ wliich the rich man dcses withlout lct or hindrance. / I If the nation di.~sapproVos of betting gand decides that it is a bad thing, ‘then. let the nation make an end of ‘beftillg altogether. But xvhaltever we ‘are icing to do, let us be CO‘.-.‘s':;*.cllt aiou It. ’ If we are going to permit any be?‘ting, then we must take the ban off ‘the Dool‘ man’s b0Oklll'll\(‘1‘. W/c mu~;t ‘make it possible for him to carry on ‘his busilless as openlv as do the big people. .