GAMBLING

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 125, 23 November 1944, Page 6

GAMBLING

A METHODIST VIEW

"Gambling and betting is an evil, because it is anti-social and cuts across the commandment that we should love our neighbour as ourselves," said the Rev. W. A. Burley, M.A., chairman, in his address to the Methodist District Synod yesterday. "In addition, it enthrones the god of Chance, and that is disastrous. Nothing negatives the Christian principle that we should consider the interests of others more than gambling.

"Where one gains at the expense of the many without' any service to the community, it is opposed to the true interests of all. The only man who ultimately wins is the bookmaker. In racing the certain winners are the Government and the racing clubs, who get a percentage of all that is invested. It does not need a mathematician to calculate that the public must lose.

"What can be said for it? It gives a thrill to some whose lives are drab and purposeless. At the present time gambling and betting are on the increase. While the totalisator is legalised, and from it the State receives no small amount of income, the bookmaker is put outside the law. What is the remedy? Alter the law, say many. This is supposed to be a panacea for breaches of the law. The publican sells after hours—alter the law; few juries will convict in the case of abortion—alter the law. The Church steps in with her witness to truth. She says that the Government of the day should reflect not the worst, most backward elements of the people, but on the contrary the best, most moral sentiment."