RADIO AND BETTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 115, 18 May 1933, Page 11

RADIO AND BETTING.

| EVIL IN AUSTRALIA. STARTING-PRICE GAMBLING. ACTION BY GOVERNMENTS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 12. Within the past few days, two organisations, differing entirely in character and constitution, but both sincerely concerned for the maintenance of public morality and the promotion of the public welfare, have made strong protests against the facilities now afforded for betting by the broadcasting of race results and betting odds in hotels. It was natural that the Congregational Churches, which have been holding their centenary here, should express strong views on this subject, and one of the clergy supporting the recommendation of the' Public Questions Committee for restrictions on these facilities, spoke bitterly of "the unholy compromise between the radio and the convivial glass," which, now promoted both drunkenness and gambling throughout the State. But the other protest comes from a less obvious source. At the police conference last week Mr. Newland, a police official from Wollongong, moved that the Government be asked to prohibit the broadcasting of race results. As most people here know, special efforts are being made to check startingprice gambling—the form of betting most conducive to recklessness on the one side and dishonesty on the other— and several of the speakers at the conference supporting the resolution urged that, to check this betting effectively, the Gaming and Betting Act should be amended so as to allow of the arrest, without warrant, of all persons found on hotel premises for the purposes of betting. It was the general opinion that broadcasting race results, must cease if the country towns and the city suburbs are to be kept clear of unl desirables.

Wives and Children Suffer. The "Daily Telegraph," which has given a strong lead to public opinion on this subject, quotes "a high police official" to the effect that "the broadcast of race results and talk by alleged experts, who persuade gullible members of the public to pay for tips, should be stopped." This police officer added: "We know of cases where men who are on the dole spend whole afternoons in hotels listening to races being broadcast and waste shillings that they cannot afford on bets. In some districts there are hotels packed with men listening to races coining in over the air, and naturally starting price operators are attracted." The "Sun," which has also taken up this cause enthusiastically, referred to S.P. betting as a public scandal which has attained such dimensions that it might be better to prohibit gambling off the racecourse entirely than to let the present state of things continue. The "Sun" has also published an interview with a police officer who is specially engaged In the campaign against S.P. betting, and who holds that gambling is at present productie of more evil than excessive drinking. Investigations in scores of cases, he told the "Sun," had revealed that "wives and children had been living in hovels, lacking food and clothing, while the father of the family was almost daily lounging at a hotel gambling away the few shillings that he had succeeded in raising." According to this same authority, who speaks from a wide experience of S.P. gambling, "betting by children, sent to nearby hotels by their fathers, is common in all parts of the city and suburbs, and often children made wagers on their own initiative with S.P. men between the broadcastings or results, the money with which to do so being often stolen from their homes."

Premier Calls For Report. The deplorable condition of things revealed at the police conference and in these interviews has aroused much public comment, and the immediate result was a request by the Premier that Mr. ChafTey should at once prepare a report on "the whole question of S.P. betting as affected by the broadcasting of race results and odds." The Chief Secretary has duly reported to Mr. Stevens, and lias suggested that "the Commonwealth should ask the Broadcast Commission to confer with the States, with a view to dealing with the difficulties arising out of radio broadcasting." Mr. Chaffey has been careful to explain that in his opinion "it would not be reasonable to prohibit the broadcast of descriptions of such races as the Melbourne Cup, which are listened to by people who ordinarily take little interest in racing." It is only the facilities for gambling that need to be restricted'; and nothing effective can be done in this direction without the cooperation of all the States at once. It now appears that Mr. Stevens and Mr. Chaffey intend to bring up the whole matter at the Premiers' Conference next month; so that the attitude of the various States toward broadcasting is a matter of great interest and importance. In Victoria the S.P. better gets very little chance, as none of the stations in that State are allowed to announce the betting on races till some hours after the conclusion of the meeting. The larger stations quote starting prices at 7.30 p.m. and at 10.30 p.m. 011 the evening after a meeting, but not during the day. The Victorian Premier (Sir Stanley Argyle) has always condemned S.P. betting and has declared that his Government-is prepared to support any proposal "to prohibit the announcement of betting, odds at a time which would be of assistance to S.P. bookmakers." Attitude of Other States. The Federal Postmaster-Ceneral (Mr. Parkliill) has pointed out that the Federal authorities could not be expected to interfere merely to save the revenues of the racing clubs in cases where the attendance of the public is reduced by broadcasting; but the moral question involved is a different issue. Itis understood that Tasmania would support New South Wales in this matter, and though South Australia does not license bookmakers, and therefore does not broadcast betting news, no doubt the moral aspects of the problems will appeal to that Government as well. In New South Wales the fines collected for S.P. betting from Sydney alone average £30,000 a year, and the convictions average 1000 a quarter; and with the evidence made available at the police conference to support a radical change in the present system, the Premiers' Conference should be prepared to take action at once.