THE GAMING BILL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8447, 25 November 1907, Page 5

THE GAMING BILL.

i DRASTIC PROVISIONS.

WHAT OF THE BOOKMAKER?

(Evening Post.) Tho Bill amending the Gaming and Lotteries Act, one of the most drastic measures ever introduced in the New Zealand, Parliament, was passed into law last night. It marks a radical' change on the part of the Government in its attitude towards gambling. Plainly tho Bill is a compromise, but it will nevertheless accomplish much if it is put into active operation. The most drastic provisions of the measures are those which seek to make the city tote shops a thing of the past. Its worst feature, according to those .members of Parliament who are opposed to gambling in any shape or form, is the official recognition which it thrusts upon the bookmaker. The "bookmakers' has an especial interest, and some contrary views have been advanced regarding its true purpose. Here it is as it appears in the Bill (now an Act of Parliament): — "Every racing club which is authorised to use the totalisator shall from time to time, on the applica-' tion of any person who is -in the opinion of the committee, or other managing body, of such club,. a fit and proper person to be so licensed, grant a license to such person to enter* on any racecourse used or occupied by such club, and there to carry on business as a bookmaker.'' In the House yesterday several members held that this clause was mandatory, that, in fact, racing clubs have no option but to issue a license in a case where the applicant is a person of tolerable respectability in the pencilling world,- But is it mandatory? Is tho club obliged to issue a license ( ? A gentleman who is keenly interested in racing and who has been intimately connected with politics for years, declares that the clubs are in a position to stand on a pedestal and say: "We don't know 1 you, and we have no desire to know you. We don't intend to license you, and we won't license you." He points Out that there is not a single line in the Bill calling upon a racing club to show cause* why it should not issue a license to an applicant. In his opinion the committee or managing body of a club is the supreme and absolute authority so far as the issue of licenses is concerned, and that it can do precisely what it pleases. Those who hold tho other view declare that if a club refuses to issue a license to a would-be bookmaker, it brands him as an ''unfit and undesirable porson," and that he has an action at law against the club. The point is a nice one.

Street-betting and tote-shop betting are dead. The Bill leaves no loophole of escape under this head. AN EPITOME OF THE MAIN PROVISIONS. The main provisions of the Bill may be epitomised as follows : — v It abolishes the tote shop by the "quarantine system," which has been found to work /satisfactorily in Aus-. tralia. '

During the time that a gaming-house is quarantined and is branded with the Supreme Court's "declaration," no calling whatever can be carried on in the building.

The owner pf the premises, if they are leased, is entitled to determine the lease immediately—not only that; he must so determine. Otherwise he commits an offence and is liable to a heavy penalty. Street-betting in any and' every form is prohibited. If a bookmaker bets in a street, the person who made the wager with him is entitled to recover his money in the courts if he loses! In a word—exit the street bookmaker and the tote shop. No racing club can accept telegraphed or telephonic instructions as to investments on the totalisator. It is made an offence to publish anything in the nature of a notification that any particular individual is willing to give advice as to the probable result of a horse race. The double totalisator is abolished. It is an offence .to publish racing tips or any statement regarding the probable result of a horse race. -Further, it is an offence to publish in connection with an account of a race meeting any statement as to the startingprice, the_ dividend paid, or the amount of money invested on the individual horses starting in a race. . in the words of" clause "Every racing club authorised to use the" totalisator shall license bookmakers to carry on their calling on" such - club's courses, if the applicant is a fit and proper person to be so licensed/'