LOTTERY MAD

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 March 1933, Page 12

LOTTERY MAD

(lAMBI.INC IN UNITED STATES. The United States “seem to have gone lottery mad." That is the opinion expressed by Mr. Horace J. Doi - nelly, of the Post. Office Depaitinen't Americans are wagering mote than a billion dollars—normall? 12im.00o.'ioo —a year that they can th*' iernpera uh'd. the last thi£* in-are;., of the daily Treasury balance, butter and egg prices ..n the Ch.cago exchange, or the total "pay-oH -Hi. < is, the amount ptlid to investors I). > talisators —-in the first, live ra J : . eh a “ ivnck These billion doigiven race u.ick. J . , ~ • .i,,, lars are not money which flows in regular and age-old channels o ' vd ” ing—horse races, subscriptions to eign lotteries, recognised sweepstakes, and so forth. They consti ute a comparatively recent system of so-calied “policy” betting m which the indi

vidual sums wagered do not exceei. 10 cents. Gambling has always bee widespread in the United Sta i>. about 40 years ago it suffered a ttcniendous setback and was v 1 , ‘ more or less controlled state by■ wson of well-organised reform ni;(»ements in almost all of the States. W it - in the last three years, however, ling has taken on much less con trollable forms; this time dou by strong, doubly subtle, and 1 . » upon the very poor Ironically the groups which have been Tallest hl * bv the economic crisis are the gioup which most lavishly support the ne practices —the negro and Latin-Amc can populations. as The betting process is known as “numbers” or “policy,” with oddsto 1000 to I against the bcttoi. Sue lucrative fields have Harlem the secSS in New York in which the negroes and Latin-Americans live—and b ack belt’ ’areas in other cities become flu . in an investigation conducted by Judge Samuel Seabury it was disclosed that one “policy king” had profited to the extent of 1,250,000 dollars—normally £ 250,000-in four ajd another “king” had banked 1,750,000 dollars— normally £350,000 —in six vears. The industry is so well oiganised and it pays such enormous dividends—to the “kings only Jiat it can employ an army of door-to-dooi solicitors who call for the bets m mornings and give news of the results in the evenings, and expensive legal talent to defend the bookmakers or solicitors who fall into the clutches of the law. It is a modern organisation, too, for it has “efficiency engineers who supervise the collectors, and as in very many other huge organisations these “efficiency engineers” often become “racketeers” who prey on the system. This vast institution has a voice—it publishes its own newspaper.

WORKING OF THE GAME. The working of the game, as described by an expert, is as follows: —“The ‘policy bankers’ hold drawings eveiy day in the week excepting Sunday. They send out collectors who have lists of regular patrons, and who call every morning, handing out slips of paper to be filled in by the hopeful gamblers. Every player writes down the number of his choice, always consisting of three figures. The collectors turn in their slips, together with their duplicate sheets, the latter going to the operators. Then the drawing is held, and late in the afternoon the collector makes another round among his customers to see who has been fortunate. The winner is he who has been lucky enough to set down three numbers exactly corresponding to the daily figures issued by some such institution as the New York Clearing House, Stock Exchange, New York Federal Reserve Bank, or the Federal Reserve Bank.”

The same expert writes that “ policy players’ are intensely superstitious, relying upon dreams and interpretative dream-books. Certain things in certain dreams apply to certain numbers. White horses, hunchbacks, birds of paradise, and children are good hick; monkeys, mules, black horses, old women, and anything to do with sickness are bad luck. Some players open a telephone directory at random and put their finger on a telephone number with their eyes closed; others take numbers from railway goods cars or trams, or use motor-car numbers. Serial numbers on dollar bills are also in favour.” Statistics reveal the collections in “policy” gambling in Chicago to be £400,000 weekly; in San Francisco, where the Chinese lottery is popular, to be £1,000,000 weekly; in New York, £200,000 -weekly; whereas in Washington and Pittsburgh, collections amount to £20,000; in St. .Louis, £7000; and Boston, £30,000. Where the negro population is heaviest in industrial cities this form, of gambling is greatest. In some cities the law is more vigilant than in others; consequently, in some parts of the country the gambling goes on condoned by officials. In Cleveland, however, several operators have been arrested for having evaded income tax. “POLICY” BETTING. “Policy” betting, although tlm most prevalent, form of gambling, is not (he only form. Recently, particularly since newspapers began publishing the winning numbers, the United States have been deluged with tickets for foreign lotteries, sweepstakes, and so forth. As the cost of these tickets varies from two to five dollars--nor-mally about 8/- to £l—-each, a wealthier class of “investor” comes on to the scene. But this class is .just as gullible as any other, though it may laugh at its humbler neighbour’s idiosyncracies in wooing Lady Luck. The Federal Government is alert, but, ahis, its power is limited, and its chief weapon of detection is the mails. Money mailed for tickets in lotteries ! as well as the tickets themselves are detected and intercepted. By prtie-j lice the post. office clerk's becomel adept in recognising such contents.l There recently arrived from abroad a. book bearing the innocent title. “The Education of a Prelate.” When a sharp-eyed clerk, opened it he found the book to bo hollowed out. and to contain lottery tickets. During the last two years fraud orders were issued against 1357 persons and companies operating lotteries. In order to evade ■ the postal laws 1 very many promoters cross I lie borders and establish powerful wireless stations in an endeavour to entice money' their way. However, he mails have to be resorted to, if not for the transfer of money and tickets, at least for ordinary correspondence; and in this way the Government is able Io exercise control.