THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post as a newspaper. WEDNESDAY 'JANUARY "7.' 1948. ~ Gaming Commission's Recommendation

Northern Advocate, 7 January 1948, Page 4

THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post as a newspaper. WEDNESDAY 'JANUARY "7.' 1948. ~ Gaming Commission's Recommendation

The Gaming Commission, sc-t up to investigate all aspects of betting in Now Zealand, particularly in connection with horse racing, has submitted its report to the Government. The recommendations of the commission will doubtless arouse keen interest, for though the main alterations in the laws affecting betting on horse racing were regarded by many people as foregone conclusions, there is much in the observations of the commissioners which deserves more than passing comment. Whether the Government will adopt the recommendations in their entirety and translate them to the Statute Book remains to be seen, but in view of the influential and impartial character of the commissioner-; and the intensive study they devoted to every aspect of their task, it may be reasonably expected that Parliament will adopt the meior proposals especially if. as will no doubt be done, tlie Government does not make the question one of confidence. The commission, taking as its basis a belief that gambling is an ingrained hitman trait which cannot be eliminated, concentrated its attention upon means by which it believes it might be controlled. To this end the commission’s report deals very largely with efforts which should be made to regularise totalisalor operations and, by giving the betting public greater facilities fer doing with the totalisator what they do to large extent with bookmakers, curtail the activities of men who are assisted by the public it' carrying on an illegal occupation. That the bookmaker constitutes a major factor in the gambling habits of New Zealanders may be gathered from the fact that whereas the totalisator handled £20.000.000 in 1946. there is ground for believing that bookmakers handled £24.000.000. These are formidable figures, as is the report 'hat, totalisator investments in the Dominion from 1918 to 1947 totalled £238,938,943, upon whien the State collected £19.150.000. The extensiveness of racehorse betting in New Zealand clearly demanded that the existing system should be overhauled, which the commission set out to do in realistic rather than idealistic fashion, a fact which makes its recommendations generally the more worthy of consideration.

As a moans of curbing the bookmaker, whose methods are inimical to the welfare of the public, but particularly young people who do not have money to throw away, the commission recommends that offcourse betting on the tote should be introduced. If this practice was permitted, the commission believes that money invested with bookmakers would to a very large extent be diverted to the totalisator. which, of course, does not

impose the limits upon dividends which bookmakers impose. The commission is definitely opposed to the legalising of bookmakers, and makes a number of recommendations aimed at impeding their

activities and strengthening the hands of the police in frustrating them. To this end. it is in effect suggested that if other means fail a bookmaker should no longer be regarded as innocent until he is proved guilty a difficulty which the police have found almost insurmountable owing to the failure of witnesses 10 give convincing evidence—but that, when he is apprehended he should be regarded as guilty until he has proved his innocence. a reversal of the code of British justice which would seem to be warranted in the circumstances. As a further means of curbing the bookmaker, the commission recommends that licenses should be issued for the establishment of a doubles totalisator at all race meetings and that doubles betting should be available through the proposed off-course system.

Another recommendation which will give rise to debate is that the five-shilling betting unit which obtained in the Dominion for some time should be given another trial. Advocates of this unit contend that it reduces the volume of belting by making it possible for a bettor to invest less than ten shillings or a pound, as the case may be, while opponents of the system hold that opportunity to invest the smaller sum is calculated to initiate young people into a practice which their limited resources would otherwise forbid, unless, of course, as is frequently done, they share tickets with others.

Apart from recommendations dealing with bookmakers and off-course betting, the commission makes a number of important proposals aimed at protecting the betting public by ensuring that they shall be given more information about the real form of competing horses, though it does not presume to suggest that owners, jockeys and others concerned should be compelled to disclose their thoughts, which would often provide the protection the commission wishes to extend to bettors.

The interests of jockeys and race- ; goers have been considered by the commission, which makes pungent criticism of the amenities provided by some prominent clubs. As will be observed by readers of the report. | the salient features of which are j printed elsewhere in the Advocate, a very commendable attempt has been made to assemble valuable in-

formation which should assist Parliamentarians if and when legislation based on the commissioners’ findings is submitted to Parliament.