GAMBLING

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1812, 28 November 1906, Page 15

GAMBLING

(By the Bishop of Durham...)

[All Rights Reserved.]

What is gambling? It has been defined as “the determination of the ownership of property by an appeal to chance.” In other words, it is an attempt to acquire what now belongs to someone else by arranging that the ownership shall be deckled by some coming event over which it is understood that neither party can have the least influence. Gambling is thus a word which covers a wide variety of Boris and kinds. It includes the “pitch and itoss” of a group of lads by the roadside; and the or small, upon a horse in a race, or a team at football; and 'the play for money at the gaming-table, so far as “chance” rules like results; and the speculation which depends on money whose very"existence hinges on the success of the venture—-and a vast number of other transactions. These may differ endlessly in details. Tut if Juey fall under the description of settling ownership by an appeal to chance, they are gambling, all uLlce.

It is undeniable chat some elements in man are power!uny attracted by gambling. One instinct, winch in itself is innocent enough, is powerfully touched by -tans magnet; it is man's love of venture. Raivieuiariy where life as a rule is monotonous.-and weary (we shall say more of this later), there often comes an almost irresvnabic craving for the change and excitement of sheer venture, the fillip of a “leap in the dark,” and the keen interest of waiting for the results. Their, There is the instinct ox acquisition. This is innocent within the bounds drawn by sincere regard for übe just imererts or cithers, but it is dangerous the moment it forgets them, and it is wicked when it Ik am pies upon them—an instinct capable of te» nbie issues in callous cruelty. Then, there is the instinct of self-sparing, taking the form of indolence, and so welcoming a mode of acquisition from others winch involves iio return of work or even gratitude. The indolent man, wishing to possess, is only too likely to bo. drawn by the thought that by a bet, or by a stroke at play, he may win what someone else now owns—and much more of it than he would win by honest remunerative work —without one real effort, certainly without one' effort which is of the slighcesc use to the other party, or to the community. GAMBLING ON HEARSAY.

"With, such appeals to human instincts no wonder that gambling, practically as far back as detailed history g-oes, has found a place in human life. No wonder that in England in our time there should be a great deal of gambling. But the point which wc are compelled to note to-day, is that within recent years, comparatively speaking, gambling has made enormous strides. It is not too much to say that amply within living memory there has been a vast spread of the gambling habit infecting every class of the community, lower as well as higher, to a degree quite unknown, say, fifty years ago, and invading every form, or very nearly every form, of popular and social amusement). There is also no doubt, in too many directions, a vast development te '-e habit where it existed before r 'ess acute degree. If only hair 1 rreht statements about \ the present extent of ‘‘bridge” playing for money are acurate, the gambling habit in many circles where “bridge’ is popular must indeed have become a formidable social disease.

Gambling in the special form of betting upon racehorses is now a habit of a countless multitude of people in many ranks. A century ago it was, on the whole, as to any prominent indiilgence in it, confined to the well-ito-do, almost to the really rich, and only to certain groups of these. The Newmarltei races (begun some 250 years ago) were attended, a century and a quarter 1 ago, it is said, by only a few hundreds; of people, almost all gentry, and betting' was not carried on upon the course. Now, step by step, in spito of repeated efforts of the law, horse-races have become centres of an enormous system of betting, owned «,n (often under- disgraceful conditions of even violent roguery} op the spot, but practised also (and this is far worse still), in remote country districts and in the densest and poorest populations of the Howns. Telegraph and Post Office give fatal _ facilities (far too surely, in view cf such a public evil) for the transmission of racing news.. The Press too often allows racing ‘-prophecies/’ which are,,.,,0f ooxirsej .professional invitations ho bet, to bp .ppiispicuou-s ip the daily.paper.' And" alj- i this is brought home with deadly,., closeness to the wishes, hopes, excitements of. men, women, >oys, girls, everywhere, by the work of' the “book-makers” and their

agents, whose gains depend upon the spread and spurring-on of the betting habit. So vast is this work of organised invitation to bet that it is calculated that the annual aggregate gains of bookmakers in England are not less than £5,000,000. That is, they surpass by quite two millions the whole annual sum given by all the Christian Churches of the country to carry on the Gospel of Christ into the nonChristian regions of the world. A FASCINATING VICE.

It would be easy enough to go into, details on this formidable subject of the spread and deepening of the gambling habit. To quote no other source of detailed information, lei* me name the book edited by Mr. B. S. R-owntree, of York (1.905). “Betting and Gambling a National Evil.” It is at once handy and full—full of facts sifted and verified, and drives homo'“to every thinking man, by solid, well-balanced statements of the “reason why,” the mirediief and misery of every form of the gambling habit. One remarkable chanter is writ Ibn by a successful book-maker, who confesses, near the close of active life, to the qualms of bis own conscience as he lookri back. “The Deluded Sportsman” in the title of the chapter: and the sermon is true to its text. The writer lias not much pity for the wealthy betting man who comes to ruin. But he is unhappy, as he well •may be, about the countless men, women, and even children, who are encouraged to “put money on” “events” about which they can know literally nothing except through those whose open -object- is to got an income for themselvco through inviting and stimulating beds. He .gives at some length, from his long experience and that of others, twenty-two “reasons,” which, all concur to securing the IxNjk-nmkePs gain at the cod of the loss of the '•small” gambler. He exposes mercilessly the &bomtna!>!o dishonesty which takes care that such and such a race is “arranged” beforehand, with a view to the money interest'of the arrangers : whoso horses shall win and which shall lone, is a m.cro matter of secret busineos in such cases. He .sums up with the words that, in his “candid opinion” “bcJting i;s a pernicious? and fascinating vice of the worst kind, and is intimately connected with, if net the direct c:\noe of, the worst kinds of various sins.” AN INSJDIOrS EVIL. That last remark is suggestive. I sea hero one answer to an old puzzle of mine, raur.e.y, way io this fatal element of batting, with roguery so often at its back, horse-races should have so bad a name a; occasions of evil. That they have an evil repute is only too certain. A friend of mine, a member of an old family resident at Now m ark eye, once mentioned the. fact that whereas, between race-times, Newmarket was one of the quietest towns in England, at race-times residents' in the High street lived exclusively at the back of their houses; the fronc rooms simply could not be used. As long ago as 1830 my f-vcher, then a young Dorset\dro Vicar, called upon the great lady (a near younger relative of William Pitt) of the liti'lo country town of which his parish was a suburb. He went to make a, courteous but strong protest' against her annual patronage of the local races. She replied, “I am astonished, Air Motile; I go, of course, with all my household and my guests, to support- a noble old English sport.” “Madam,” my father answered, “may I tell you one lhicf. from my own knowledge ? As sure as every race-week arrives forty unhappy women lodgings in my parish, ready for their trade of Sin.” The reply was decisive, “Do you say so? In this a fact? Then never will I go near the races again.” And she did not; and, somehow, there were no races aic all the next year, nor have they been revived.

Would to God that the action of that high-minded woman could find more imitators to-day. I say this in no merely fanatical or “impossible” spirit. But I think there is cause for speaking out, to judge only by the accounts which even spoiling papers indignantly give (Mr Rowntree’s book quotes many of them) of the elements of disgraceful evil to be observed even at first-class race-meetings. I. do not hesitate to eay, from a heart profoundly loyal, and which continually thanks God for the wise and mighty influence of onr gracious King for public and international good, that he would confer on ns yet one more invaluable benefit if his pa/tronage of racing were less considerable.

THE EFFECT ON CHARACTER. But horse-racing is but a part of the broad continent of life covered by the gambling habit. The “appeal to chance in order to determine possession” is everywhere, and touches everything. On ocean voyages it is a constant practice for 'passengers to contribute to a “sweep” on the ship’s daily course, and on the date of its arrival . Strange stories are not uncommon of guests at wealthy houses who find that, if Sbey do not play for money, they have overstayed their welcome. In the ranks of business life, and I refer now particularly to such workers as bank-clerks, oases of oon-

fiction for embezzlement, with all the attendant woe for the victim and his friends are only too frequent, and responsible magistrates unite to assure Xi's thait these ruins, in the vast majority of cases, are due to gambling. Money has been risked, and lost—and the money of the bank lies temptingly at hand, to be used for the moment, and soon, of course, to be replaced! Alas, tliat money also vanishes, and detection oomes, with its tremendous lesson.

I cannot help the remark that a needless and wrongful temptation to such wretched and guilty mistakes is often laid in a young man’s way by giving him a . really inadequate salary, inadequate in view of liis responsibilities. But that wrong dees not make his wrong right. And what shall we say of the results of the gambling habit upon character. They go deep to the basis of will, conscience and affection. The gambling mania is in its essence selfish. Its power on the inner man is selfish'altogether; in proportion to its strength, the. very idea of living for others must wither like the uprooted flower. It is in its essence the absolute contradiction to every high ideal. The unhappy victim, as it grows in him and on him, less and leas cares for high questions, political or social, and least of all for religious life and effort. He carries within him a. force always acing against the sublime law of righv-eou-snees, with its eternal call to every man to think with equal reverence of his own duties and of Jr's neighbour’s rights. He is, just ©o far as be is a gambler, an alien from the blessed idea of home. * What is there in the pure unselfish affections of home to compete (in such a mind) with the dark magnetism of chance, with the growing passion, more or less ©elfish, for the basest forms of gain ? So the whole character is shaken from its centre, and decay ©eife in, when the betting microbe gets into its veins. WORSE THAN DRINK.

Biiefiy, in closing, let a word be said about the remedies which may, God helping, touch this tremendous evil—an evil so clinging that workers among the young tell us that it is much easier to get lads to take a pledge not to drink or not to smoke than not to bet. Assuredly one farreaching remedy will come with every wise and solid advance in the brightening and sweetening of the monotonous conditions of life for the myriads of people to'- whom too \ often the bet seems, alas, due only excitement, besides the drink, which helps time along. But all filially efficient moral remedies must come from within, under bleating from above. From numberless wealthy lives the very thought of gambling “pleasures” is shut cut by willing devotion to some noble career, social and Christian. From numberlasts poor and' toiling lives (I know some of them) it is kept utterly away by unselfish care for a neighbour’s troubles and self-sacrificing efforts, in the small spare time to do Christian good —good of which the world, and the world to come, shall both reap the fruits. Any pure interests connected with other people help© to keep the bane away. And wherever, among rich or poor the blessed light of a godly home is kept burning, (and such homes oxist, more of them than we think, often where we least expect it), there the deadly and delusive mania of the gambling habit cannot be; it dies of truth and love.