S.P. BILL

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 206, 1 September 1938, Page 15

S.P. BILL

HOT DEBATE. MEASURE IN N.S.W. GOVERNMENT ATTACKED. STATEWIDE TOTE PLAIT. from ©or Own OorreepomOemt.) SYDNEY, August 26. The bill by -which the New South Wales Government hopes to reduce starting price betting by 50 per cent has begun a stormy second reading passage in the Legislative Assembly. The most striking statement made in the early stages was that of the Minister in charge of the bill, the Chief Secretary, Mr. Goilan, who said that the annual turnover on betting in this State was about £40,000,000. That would be equal to about £10 a year for every person in New South Wales, including babios. The estimate, of course, is verv largely guess work, as the only precise figures which the Government can have arc those of legitimate betting, but no doubt Mr. (Jollans total gives som; idea of the true position. In fact, as one speak.-r said at a U.A.P. younger set meeting, at which the bill was condemned, gambling seems as necessary to Australians as wine to Frenchmen, beer to Germans, O r water to chicks.. As one speaker said in Parliament, if the hill should suppress the starting price betting to the extent that the Government liopes, the final likely result would }*> that people who cannot go to a racecourse to bet would find some other outlet for their gambling instinct. Mr. Gollan made some weighty remarks during his speech. "Betting" is a frequent cause of crime, particularly fraud and embezzlement," he said. "It brings about a deterioration of character, especially among young people, nnd is often the cause of impoverisTiment of the home." Figures In Support. Mr. Gollan supported his case with figures from South Australia and Queensland. In the former State, he said, betting; }• shops had provided an incentive to betting on a scale not dreamed of. In the first year of the Betting Control' Board's operations, the turnover was £3,188,000. In succeeding years it was £4,060,000, £0.113,000 and £7,075,000. On the other hand, he claimed that the results of legislation in Queensland against off-course betting had been remarkable. In the year before the legislation was passed, he said, 1.377,000 betting;.tickets had been issued. The next year the total was 4.239,000.

Referring to clauses, prohibiting the dissemination ,of betting information to people not on a course before the start of the last race, Mr. Gollan said this was designed to stop the operations of agencies which supplied such information by telephone to S.P. bookmakers, and also to stop the broadcasting of such in formation. Newspapers would be permitted to publish the odds immediately a race had been run.

The prohibition of unauthorised publication of nominations and acceptances, he said , , was aimed at what were known as unofficial, or bogus racebooks. This explanation did not satisfy one later Government speaker, who pointed out that this clause/.; jnlehs -jnw.ejrtL' ,Wcwe_t papers $*om of racing clubs for feer n or reprisals. Mr. Gollan Added that the Government was going to, ask the racing clubs to restore place betting and the 2/6 tote. Averring Guilt. I mentioned before an obnoxious clause in the bill, requiring a person to prove his innocence rather than the Crown to prove his guilt. Mr. Gollan said there had been misunderstanding as to the effect of the provision that an averment in a charge that a person was a bookmaker would be prima facie evidence of the fact. "Such an averment does not prove or create an offence, ,, -he said. "All a man who in charged, has to do is -step into the witness box and deny it. That deetroye the averment, and the burden of proving that he is a bookmaker then rests on the prosecution." Later speakers were quick to point out that if this was really all the clause meant, there seemed to be little use in it. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Lang, admitted that there were Several social evile, such as the employment of children, associated with off-couree betting, but he maintained that existing laws could deal with these problem* if they were enforced. Mr. Lang undoubtedly expressed the private opinion of many people when he said- that the bill had been brought in to the order of the sporting dubs. Much hdd been made, he said, of the,prosperity of racing in Victoria, but all the things prohibited in the bill were allowed there. The real reason for the prosperity of the Victorian racing clubs, he contended, was that they gave the public a good show for their money. One Government city member pointed to a real difficulty when he remarked that if betting information was forbidden under N.S.W. la we, all {hat would happen would be that information would be telephoned to Melbourne, broadcast there, and relayed in N.S.W., which the N.S.W. Government would have no power to prevent. New Negotiations. Already negotiations are taking place between the Government, the A.J.C. and the fi class broadcasting stations for an arrangement under which the stations would be granted restricted broadcasting rights inside racecourses. Denie'd this by the clube, the stations have been broadcasting outside courses, and in a suit with the racing clubs, which went right to the Privy Council and cost the parties £15,000, the stations established their legal right to do so. It is probable therefore that the clubs, having secured their bill, if it goes through, will be prepared to come to some arrangement with the radio stations. Among various sporting clubs which supported the move for the bill was the Rugby League, and it wa* fiercely assailed by a>, Government membefi Mr. Waddell. "Fojr 14 years," he said, "the league has been a subscribe* , to Telesports (betting agency) only mention this to show of- the league in going .Government..,with, a plea for the bill in the moral interests of the younger The league ie one of the biggest gantbling joints in the city. It Iβ one of the organisation* which were afraid recently of being declared, a common gaming house. It -allowed; up to five or six bookmakers to operate from its premises every Saturday."

The "Daily Telegraph" has been campaigning for a State-wide totalieator service an the rial cure }for S.Pbetting. It points-out that the Koyal Commission in South Australia recommended this, and not betting shops, and argues that whether the real object at

tho bill is to help the racing clubs or to ssifejnmrd public morality, a Statewide tottlisator service would achieve the objett. I Advantages Cited. Tho, piper argues that such a service would tike off-course betting out of the hands of undesirables, eliminate the evil of child betters, restore racing to affluewe by making available a substantial ium in grants to racing clubs out of its turnover, enable the country better ta make his bets without breaking the paw, and relieve the police force of in impossible and unpleasant task iQ; attempting to suppress S.l*. bettmg. And it would cost nothing to operate; in fact, it would divert to the Government a source of taxation which is Ibst to it at present and would still l>e lost if S.P. betting were driven still further underground. The pltu has been supported by a former faember of the South Australian Commission now resident in Sydney, »nd also by a visiting member of tlrtf Jockey Club of England, with win'Vi ill other racing, clubs of importance throughout the world are affiliated." This man instanced the universal ,provision of totalisators in France, and also the London firm of Ladbroke* which, he stated, probably had a bigger turnover than the head office of the Commonwealth Bank. "If bets were made legal contracts, as in England," he added, "there would be no sub rosa S.P. betting." Labour; criticism of the bill so far has mostly, .tikeii the line that it is just another measure to entrench racing as the rich man's sport. One Labour member remarked rather cruelly that the Chief Secretary, who is in charge of the bill, and the Minister of. Justice, who woutt hayei^veee [,%%.. ife enforce-, *">"** air the Cabinet Ministers knew the least about racing.