THE GAMBLING MANIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 145, 21 June 1926, Page 9

THE GAMBLING MANIA.

AUCKLAND ON A JAZZ. ■ - i ART UNIONS AND "SURPRISE PACKETS." I I MONEY FLIES AT THE WINTER SHOW. (By FRANCIS YEW.) i i Auckland has been invaded by an ' epidemic of gambling, and the people have found exhilaration in it, if not | much uplift. They have danced to the i tune set by rnose who have fiddled for j ( . as h—jazzed madly to it—and after a | particularly speculative period last j week are now drawing breath for the , next spasm. The ban, it is announced, j is to t>e placed on the big-prize art | union—wherein we get thousands of ! pounds' worth of gold dust, instanta- i I neously convertible into cash, for two shillings or half-a-crown. One wonders \ what a quandary the promoters of the many subsequent art unions would have been in if the winner of the first •'art" union permissible under our laughable lottery laws had insisted on retaining the "mineral specimen -, ? Possibly they would have had to import gold at a premium. ■ But to see gambling brazenly flouting ; in the public eye, naked and unashamed, j one only had to visit the Winter Exhibition last week and fight his way | through "Chocolate Alley." It was held ! by the proprietors that the games played ; h«re were games of skilL To some ; extent they may have been —to those with long experience of their mysteries; but to the average individual who put down his sixpence, shilling or two shillings, they were sheer games of chance, with long odds against the speculator. In some of these games the "pool" was not complete without 21 players, and the prizes were worth from 5/ to 15/ — , wholesale! There were times when these ; places were beseiged by rows five and ■ six deep, anC men and women, and the j youth of both sexee. were to be observed literally fighting their way to i the tables. Players in the front row would remam for pool after pool, only leaving when they had gained a box of "chocolates, after losing coin after coin—or when they had been to the limit of their shillings unrewarded. The proprietors of these concerns showed profits up to 300 per cent on each pool, but the gamblers played again and again, stimulated by an occasional win. encouraged by the sight of others winning, or desperately staking further coins after those that had gone in an endeavour to obtain some value for what was lost. The tables were raking in hundreds of pounds, but still fhe people came, push-1 ing their way in through the waiting crowd, young and old. The whole of this part of Prince's wharf shed wa* a scene of feverish gambling. It was not j an edifying sight to witness. During j the show these side-shows did an j immense business. They must have ; taken thousands of pounds in profits. Sow, like the Arabs, their conductors will fold their paraphenalia and •"silently steal away"—not to return, it j is to be hoped. A high police official was questioned as to the legality of these games, as to why they were permitted; and whether | any'df the conductors thereof were to be | prosecuted. "W»it and see,"' was the cryptic answer —from which it may be deducted that the authorities at any rate contemplate action. Many "Surprises." One would have thought that ihese; short games would, have provided plenty • of scope for the gambling spirit of the j community. Not co. Auckland also had a not of ■ "surprise packet" s cunts. Envelopes containing orders for goods were sold by scores of thousands for a shilling ■ and two shillings each, the floors of j gome city, shops and stores, and even the | pj\.;ueiits outside being strewn with] t'iciii. Now, whatever may be said against j in 8i c union, so-calltd, it is at leaet a I lo'tery with a clear-cut issue. The I purchaser of a ticket knows Ue has one | oharce in so many thousands (orj hund'rds of thousands) of gaining thei fi'rt prize, or any one of the score or' so ofemaller prizes, and '.\e gamble* on. the issue, knowing that it is a gamble.' But in regard to the "surprise packet" i ( which appears to be "within the law," j or why is it allowed?), speculators are I appealed to by a further inducement. ! They are assured that in any case they ' will" get value for their shilling, or their ■ ftvo shillings, and they buy an envelope with the idea that they will get this j value, plus a chance of a big prize; thrown "In. Recent experiences should j convince them that "fools and their, money are soon parted," but if it has the effect of separating fools from their folly, it will have been money well epent. ; ' There is a very large element t '■ of foolishness in a public which expects I ■ promoters of these "surprise packet" j ' ventures to give full value in each enve-1 ' lope and throw in a prize worth several J hundred pounds for nothing. More than ] ' "surprise" was depicted on the faces of j the great majority of those who pur- ' chased envelopes at 2/ each in a recent lottery of this description. Vexation and downright indignation could be seen on hundreds of faces as their owners read their "ticket" and found they had paid j 2/ for a small cake of soap, a pot 1 cleaner, a small pair of crude scissors, 1 a packet of envelopes or matches, a reel ! of cotton and a roll of tape, a nutmeg I ' grater, or a tin plate—not one of which articles was worth more than sixpence. 1 In this connection the Auckland public \ is convinced it has fared badly, despite the fact that there were three or four eood prizes gained—and they are not ' likely to forget it in a hurry, though, of course, the inveterate gamblers! ■ among us Avill gamble at any and every opportunity. People will gamble, of course. The question is, to what extent should the law prevent them, and how far it should go in staying the contamination of society hy gambling. Gambling in England. One of the most interesting official documents of recent publication is the ■■■ report of the committee on betting in f England. In betting may be included i the' purchasing of tickets, or envelopes, " in. the hope of gaining a priz-j--and, - indeed, such betting is of a far wilder i- order than betting on horses, with intini itelv less chances of securing a return. ' Yet" the strange thing about it is that - people who would not be induced by any ■■ persuasion to back a horse, will purchase - chances in a lottery and refuse to admit i that they are gambling. In comparison • with the innumerable art :tnions and ' other, outside lotteries, betting ou racehorses in Ntr.v Zealand seen.s to have fallen into comparative insignificance. Betting- on horses is at least not spread 5. so openly throughout the whole comf munity.' The report of the committee 3 above-mentioned states that which is bad f enough, however: "Your committee are l unanimous in the view that betting is a useless thing except in bo far as it

gives pleasurable excitement for some, and for others an escape from the monotony of their daily work. In other words, ! it is a 'mug/s game' as practised by the . large majority of backers. It is a foolish i occupation or habit. It is a pure luxury ' and a fitting subject for taxation/ The committee expressed amazement at '"tht , J , extraordinary extent to which betting ■ I exists—practically every class in the, ' community now bet."' And betting on horses is "only one method of gambling. ; Dealing with the problem generally, the ■ report states that the committee believe [ gambling to be due to the craving for i ! some excitement among the artisans and I working classes, arising from the general \ i monotony of their daily work, which ' machinery has made more drab, depriving the operator from his former pride I I of handicraft. '< ■ Early Anti-Gambling Laws. J There was a statute of Henry the ; Eighth against persons playing "many ! and sundry new and crafty games and I plays, as logetting in the fields, slide- I I thrift, otherwise called shove-groat. . . . i keeping houses or alleys for the mainten- : ance thereof." Gambling was con- ■ demned because by it "archery is sore \ decayed. . . . and divers, bowyers and tletchers for lack of work gone and inhabit themselves in Scotland and other places out of this Realm, to the detriment of this Realm.' , . Gambling in those days stopped archery practice — just as it perhaps has a big effect in limiting modern rifie practice. \ The anti gambling law in England, j insofar as street betting is concerned, "is , said to be as effective as a lady with a I broom trying to sweep back the' Atlanj tic, and a writer in an English review ■ states that the same may be said about : a dozen other Acts for the suppression ;of gambling, -the sum of which is that i reformers are faced by a very deeply- j rooted human instinct which will treat the Legislature and the police with goodhumoured disregard. But the writer adds that every well->halanced mind will agree that gambling is "an entirely undesirable occupation for people having any pretence at civilisation." and that it lis the immediate, or at least superficial I cause of a vast amount of poverty and i waste." Judging by recent events, it I would seem that Auckland cannot claim tco high a place in the scale of civilisation.