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Press, Volume LII, Issue 9176, 6 August 1895, Page 2

In a previous issue the same journal concluded a lengthy article thus :—"The legalising of the gambling aspect of the question is far more likely to block the totalisator than any doubts as to its being for the benefit of true racing. And we fail to see how the totalisator, used only on a racecourse, can be held up as likely to Increase gambling in a country where betting in the streets ie allowed, and sly sotalisators thrive in the teoth of the police. The past year has shown that betting cannot be stopped. The antigamblers in Eogland attacked the practice, and spent thousands of pounds in trying to prove betting on a racecourse illegal, but they were beaten all along the line. Magistrates and judges alike told them they were wrong, and, more important ■till, public opinion was against the antiRamblers. The majority cannot be brought to regard betting as an offence for which a man should be held up to scorn. Backing horses may be foolish, but the general feeling ia that if a man likes to spend his money In this way it is his own look-out. Admitting, then, that it is impossible to prevent gambling and betting, is it not better that Parliament should acknowledge and Cjontrol it, as far as the racecourse is concerned, by countenancing the totalisator, which is an absolutely perfect method of carrying on post-betting, and will greatly benefit genuine racing clubs and the charities « " Parliament should, before acting hastily, weigh well the words of writers who have studied their subject from eyery standpoint, and know it from AtoZ,