BRITISH LOTTERIES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 297, 13 November 1934, Page 6

BRITISH LOTTERIES.

A feature of the debate on the British Betting and Lotteries Bill, which, is one of the major measures to be put through in the present session of the House of Commons, was the attempt to restore a clause in the measure as originally designed to forbid football pool betting. The decision of the Government to excise this portion of the Bill was taken, according to the Home Secretary (Sir John Gilmour), because of a strong difference in the Standing Committee. Much support for the amendment seeking reinsertion of the clause was forthcoming. It may seem strange to people of our Dominion that such a subject as betting on football should come so forcibly before the Legislature of anj r country, because with the element of amateurism so strongly entrenched in our national game little is heard of betting on it unless in a friendly way between a few enthusiasts. Nevertheless, football betting in Britain has become a serious business among thousands of people; indeed, it has been said by students of social problems that it will soon rival horse-race betting. There is point in the latter assertion, since those who catered for the horse-racing bettor have had a partial setback with the introduction of the totalisator on English racecourses, and the result is that they have fostered the football pool or coupon system as an alternative. The scheme may briefly be described as betting on the chances of a certain number of Association football teams—win, lose, or draw. Again, the fact that professionalism has entered almost wholly into the realm of first-class Association football gives it a greater commercial aspect than it otherwise would have. Even the smallest sum is accepted under the pool system, and thus the charge has been laid by opponents of the Bill that the scheme has led to gambling among boys and girls. The amendment moved by the opponents of the scheme was defeated without a division, but the strength of the support accorded in the speeches—the Home Secretary was asked to allow a free vote of the House to be taken—indicates how seriously the matter is judged. The Lotteries Bill being a policy measure of the Government, the request was not granted, especially since the Bill has been designed principally to deal with other and more important aspects of lotteries.