ORGANISED GAMBLING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 3108, 29 December 1921, Page 2

ORGANISED GAMBLING.

CONDITIONS IN SYDNEY. BOOKMAKERS’’ AGENTS, UNDERGROUND ACTIVITIES. Business men, police authorities, and others concede that Sydney ys the biggest gambling; centre in Australia if not in the Southern Hemisphere (says ti writer in the Sydney Daily Telegraph). The lascinating, ami in many cases demoralising, pastime is no longer confuted to the racecourse, or what might briefly he called the legalised avenues. It is spreading out underground in a dozen directions, and in on r factories, warehouses, business places, and even at ihe hack doors ol our homes may he seen the long arm id the modern layer of odds. Gambling, like many another lonn ol business, has in the past been unorganised. The layer of odds and taker ol bets has regarded himself as existing more or less on the still era nco ol society. He hits been carelnl, discreet, spasmodic, and casual. To-day he is not content to confine gambling to the sporting wager of the adult who bets with his surplus cash No—he has democratised gambling—he has brought it light down to the people—men, women, and children—they are all grist to his mill.

AdKNTS K VICKYWMKHK. Thus in Sydney to-day wo find that tlu> nod of chance has a shrine in nearly every laetory, in many large and reputable warehouses, and in plaees ol business untold. All hands and llie* cleark. as tl. wete. are in the swim, and the olliee hoys are often the most dazzling limiters ol .all. “The thing; is becoming it eonlottnded nuisance,” said a laetory manager. I am beginning to wonder whether 1 am running a maiiiilnetnring plant, or a .Monte Carlo.” His employees, lie explained, were more keenly interested in louts’ tips and the turf than in their work. II mmo of his apprentices knew as much ihottl tlmir business as they did about horses, they would he dominant personalities ill lilt' business world. Ibe trouble was tlml. while their knowledge ol gambling in all its phases was in'(.using every day by leaps and hounds, (heir knowledge ol their trade had to he ground into them by slow and painful steps, and with many failures and spoiled Kills to hoot. In offices, shops and factories gambling is now so well organised and altered for that the employee need not leuve the budding to do his betting. There is among the stall an agent ol some eitv bookmaker, and fins agent collects all Urn bets daily, weekly, or hotirlv, ueeord.iiig to the intensity ol the -•rmerness. and passes the money on lo the hookmuker. For this little service the ugent collects ‘•the usual” commission of l‘.M per cent. SAT DM DA V SI’.TTDKM KNTR. A gentleman who is in close touch with what goes on in big concerns, such is dockyards, staled that- Salmday mornings these presented scenes sometiling like what one might expect to sen ,1 the Stock Kxchange or the wool ,ules. Saturday morning is settling time, and the eltort and energy wham should he devoted to the daily task is leveled instead to squaring up tlm .veek’s Iraitsaelions tvi llt tin* walking Iclemite ot the master bookmaker, who uls in sih'tn v behind the scenes. Tit is walking delegate is a vital spark. A gentleman slick and shrewd is he. He has not time to waste, and is just as itisiness-like as any oi your regular commercial travellers, lie regards himsell is a hona fide business man, and is as busy and brisk as a salesman. The usual lorm in which the matter .•oines under the ntoice ol the law is .vlien some unfortunate is brought before the Court for embezzlement. A high police oflieer gave the assurance that the cases which come before the Court are only a fraction ot the total which occur. In the great- majority of •uses the employer (loth to prosecute) nerely discharges the culprit. Many eases of stealing also are traceable to gambling. Servant girls who take what does not belong to them now frequently give the excuse that they were betting. One potty, but very common result ■if the feverish gambling spirit in the business houses ol Sydney is the habit of tin 1 olliee boy of disguising bis real 'itrnings from bis parents. They keep wondering why the parsimonious firm is still keeping him on los a week, and me fine day Dad goes along to inquire. He is staggered to learn that Johnnie i.s getting 2os a week', and has been lor some time. Johnnie has been punting the difference. As the curtain falls the parental hand is seen poised high over the prostrate lorm of Johnnie.

HITCHKR HOYS’ TIPS

Gambling is being organised in yei another direction. In some eases tin tradesman who goes from door to dooi executes commissions lor certain hook makers. The wives that wo lave at home to wait for ns, and the servanl girls that we leave to wait on them, an in this way hired into the net. Both the wives and the servant girls sometimes invest money that they can ill afford in the exciting pursuit of the butcher boys’ tips. Reputable members of«tho sporting community deplore as much as anybody the growing evil of promiscuous gambling, and arc anxious that the few individuals who lend themselves to the employment of agents and the organised encouragement of the evil should not be allowed (o discredit the straight men, who keep to legitimate paths. "Speaking for mysell,” said a member ot TaUersall’s Club. "I believe that betting is a sport which should be conlined to adults who know their own minds. I do not believe in encouraging il in factories or ollices or among youths or women. In saying this, I believe I am voicing Hie ideas of all the bestknown bookmakers ol the city.”