LOTTERY MAD

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 153, 26 December 1931, Page 6

LOTTERY MAD

GAMBLING FEVER IN N&W,

AMAZING. DEVELOPMENT

(From Post's" Representative.) '~ .. SYDNEY,'3rd December.

'. .Ever since it was begun a few months1 ago, the State lottery in New South Wales has been a success, but now the people seem to have gone' lottery mad.' Lotteries arei.iiow being subscribed at thei rate of two a week, .which;.means the sale of 200,000 tickets eactseven days. Money continues to pour into the State from New Zealand as well as from other parts oi Australia, and the overseas mail is ever increasing Day aitor day long queues wait at tho lottery oßice, despite the fact that tor 3a cx.tia, which is by way of commission to the agent, they can bo purchased almost anywhere m the city and suburbs. AH sorts of ruses are cmploj ed to get m ahead of the crowd, and the most common is to "bornrw" .1 b<iby, and then appeal to the official at the door tor preference. This worked very well for a while—until the official came to recognise that it was the same baby, every time. The climax was reached when: a white woman appeared with a black; baby. A number of unauthorised agents have been buying tickets in bulk and splitting them up into seven shares, soiling each share a* a price which gave them a profit of Is 9d a ticket. One of these agents was prosecuted under the Gaming Act, but the Supreme Court has since ruled that he was within his rights in disposing of his own property, be it lottery ticket or anything else, in whatever way he liked This has given a great fillip to the trade in lotteiy tickets, and no wondei some concern is felt among those- who have the interests of the people at heart For instance, it has been revealed a schoolboy sold one of the shares- m such a way as to yieia him a profit of 3d. Nothing will stop people from gambling if they so desire, but it seems that only disastrous results can follow if the sale of lotteiy tickets takes place m the school grounds Hotels, ambulandcs, butchers, tailoi", hospitals, and bridge parties aio usin^ lottery tickets, with the luie of "£SOOO for nothing" in order to advertise and increase their trade Charity iffaiis which used to offer small prizes such as a fountain pen by way of an inducement to people to enter into a raffle, now offer lottery tickets instead, ana find that the pubhe likes this better. One hotelkeeper in the city will sell a ticket at a dis count provided you buy a glass of beer from him.. Some butchers give, away a number with each parcel of meat, and on Saturday give to the holdei of the lucky numbers lottery tickets The ambulances are conducting lottoiy a rlVes —actually, raffles with lottcrj tickets as> the prizes. A certain^ soap manufacturer announces that inside every tenth bar he places a lottery ticket. Other traders offer lottery tickets at half-price, providing you spend, say, £1. ' ~..-.' Altogether it seems as though the whole position is getting out of. hand, and that the Government will sooner or later have to devise some restrictive legislation. As the profits of, the lottery.; amount to about S, 12,000 weekly, Mr. \,ang;is not likely to rush matters.