FARCE OF THE BETTING LAW

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 3, 5 January 1926, Page 6

FARCE OF THE BETTING LAW

There are many things that are farcical in the present gaming law, mainly springing from the false basis laid by the Legislature. For who can contend that a lav is well founded which declares that it is right and proper to bet in a certain place and in a certain way, but an offence to bet in any other placet So we have the Legislature, striving to maintain this basis,' making other anomalies even- more ridiculous—punishing newspapers for printing betting information, though it is well known that the same information is freely circulated in other ways. To-day we have another phase of the whole ridiculous business. Three bookmakers have been fined sums totalling £350. One of them is a returned soldier living on a pension and a night-watchman's pay. His fine was £50' We do not contend that bookmaking should be carried on without let or hindrance in spite of the law, but is it not a fact that the offenders who are punished are always the small fry ? Is it not a fact, also, that while the big-"prin-cipals," often referred 'to in prosecutions, are believed to be operating extensively," they are never caught in the net? What can be said of a law that is framed this way? It is time that the Legislature gave serious attention to the whole business and amended the law to make it both logical and enforceable.,