THE GAMBLING QUESTION

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9637, 1 November 1909, Page 5

THE GAMBLING QUESTION

By Telegraph—Press Association. AUCKLAND, October 30.

In an article in yesterday's issue dealing with the gambling question, the "Herald" points out that during 1908 9 the Auckland Racing Club, on each of its thirteen race-days, licensed an average of 31 bookmakers, and received in fees for the year from this source the enormous sum of £8,169 for the right to bet, this being only a few pounds less than the amount received by the, Victoria Racing Club, which took I in fees for sixteen days' racing the sum of £8,500, a lesser average per day. But the comparison, it says, does not end here. Ttiere is no totahsator operating at Flemington, While at Ellerslie the machine is a great rival of the pencillers. It would be reasonable, with so many bookmakers doing business, to expect the totalisator receipts to shrink, but here again, another extraordinary position is disclosed, for despite the operation of so many Jbookmakrrs, the machine receipts in creased for the year. The Act of 1907, to quote the words of Sir Joseph Ward, contained "some of the most drastic proposals that had ever been contained in any Gambling Bill submitted to any Parliament in the world." These "drastic" proposals included the prohibition of the publication of totalisator odds, and the suppression of street betting, and tote shop. The first has been strictly carried nut, but its efficacy in reducing gambling is doubtful. The second ana third clauses are dead letters, for money is wagered every day of the week in Queen street on races being held in all parts of New Zealand.