GAMBLING IN AMERICA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9115, 15 June 1908, Page 5

GAMBLING IN AMERICA.

SUPPRESSION BILL CARRIED. NEW YOR'<, June 12. The Senate of New York State, by the casting vote of a dying senator, who was carried into the House, made gambling on a racecourse punishable by imprisonment.

In New York State rigorous laws | exist against betting on horse races except on the course, and Mayor j Hughes led a strong campaign for the inclusion of the courses in the van. He received solid support from the farming community. The betting of the pool-room, already declared illegal, is the worst feature of the whole American gambling system, and these "grafters" have been very assiduous in assisting in the Mayor's campaign, for its success means more flies for the parlours of these spiders. Those who are financially interested in the pool-rooms have built up around themselves and their dens a barrier composed of political "pull" and a huge corruption fund. Added to this tne pool-rooms have the aid of the biggest commercial institutions in th.9 world. Josiah Flynt, the American writer in "The Underworld," declares r,o crime in America reaches in despicability the racing game. The profit to owners of race tracks in America is, he says, fourteen million dollars a year, the attendance at race tracks aggregated six millions, and the amount bet 110 million dollars on the tracks and a similar amount in the pool-room, the profit to bookmakers being estimated at thirty million dollars. There are 1,307 racing days in the American Racing Manual and 8,011 races are run, and on any of these'bets may be made in the pool-rooms.