WHOLE NATION IN A GAMBLING FEVER

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12423, 17 April 1926, Page 11

WHOLE NATION IN A GAMBLING FEVER

Italian Government Nets Millions From Gigantic Lottery PROPHET FAILS AND FLEES

Exploiting the gambling fever which is now sweeping through Italy , the Government is raking in hundreds of millions of lire a year from National Lotteries. (Nominally about 9 d, the lite is now worth about 2d ). Two thousand offices are set up, where all through the week the people pour in their money to buy chances, in the hope of making as much'as 60,000 times their stake when the winning numbers are drawn on the Saturday. The rise and fall of the “prophet” Torraca—whose fame as a “tipster” of the winning, numbers was widely advertised—is detailed by a correspondent of the London “Chronicle.”

IWONTXER whether you are laughing heartily over Italy’s latest outbreak of lottery fever. Italy’s National lottery is a sounder institution than the Monarchy or than going to bed. Every Saturday five numbers between “one” and “ninety’ are publicly drawn 'by blindfolded children out of tight “ruotif,” or wheels, situated in eight of the largest centres—Milan, Turin, Venice, . Florence, Homo, Naples, Bari and Palermo. Two thousand officers exist in the kingdom where the public stakes are received up to Friday afternoon.

If you like to bet on two numbers being drawn from a given “wheel,” you live in getting back 2/50 times what you have laid out. * If you are so fortunate as to guess three numbers, you may collect 4500 times your stakes from the nation. 60,000 TO ONE If, however, you belong to the very small, but sanguine, band of those who bet on four numbers, and if you have the luck of seeing those four turn up. in the draw 'which you have backed (you get nothing if you have backed Milan and your members come up in Palermo) —then your fortune is made, ’for you pocket 60,000. times your outlay. [lt will be seen that if a prophet gives, say, two numbers, and if those numbers leap out of any of the wheels, he may get, in a credulous land, credit for a good guess. But nobody will get a prize except the investor who has backed BOTH numbers to leap out of the s'ame wheel . at the sime draw in his own city centre.] Year in, year out, every Saturday a large portion of rho people put down all the money they can get hold of in the hope of becoming millionaires. SOURCE OF REVENUE They are not aware that the probability of guessing two numbers is about one* in 4000; of guessing three numbers, one in 117,000; and of guessing four numbers, one in two and a half millions.

That explains why the Government make such a good thing out *bf it. In fact, it id a source of public revenue, not to be suppressed. There are a feeble, futile, few folks in Italy who object, on moral grounds, to the lottery. They do not count. The Government scoops in hundreds of millions of lire per annum. This one-handed fellow down in Pnglia or Ajtulia (he is not one-armed, as the newspapers say) has really earned ai reputation as a seer. Records which it would be difficult to disprove show the one-handed Ignatius Torraca prophesied the right numbers 26 times out of 52 last, year, and six times out of six this year. In the recent unprecedented outbreak of lottery fever, the numbers announced* by Ignatius for Naples—33 and 48—-were backed on a wholesale scale. LIKE xTHE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE The two thousand lottery offices were taken (by assault. Ignatius’s village became ; a Mecca.

From one of the North Italian towny an officer of the garrison sent a sub altern on special leave to Puglia (50(1 miles away) in order that he might get into contact with Torraca and tsegraph homo the- numbers destined to win. There were people who sold bed and mattress in order to have a few hundred lire to bet. There was a man who sold his daughter’s trousseau for 2000 lire and stated them. There were people who stakecWronx 10,000 to 12,000 lire. Government stood to lose some hundreds of thousands of millions. But Government was unperturbed* and/ calmly announced that all the winnings would be scrupulously paid down to the list oentisimo. No less than 80 million lire were staked. Then come the great delusion—colossal—heartbreaking! i Government had won again. The dollar subscription (that is to pay the debt to America) brought in 80 million lire. The lottery of .February 13th, 1926, yielded an equal sum in voluntary subscriptions. Bo not think, however, that tho public is discouraged. It will pin its faith to the some numbers for another draw, perhaps fen* the third draw. PROPHET VANISHES Meantime, the one-handed main h*« discreetly retired from the public view. Very likely the authorities have him away till the stone passes orey. Here in upper Italy we are more oi 1 less exempt from this betting fever | but in lower Italy the lottery Is followed with a passion that cannot be imagined. It is no exaggeration to say that down Naples way they will sacrifice a meal sooner than miss the opportunity of backing the numbers they fancy* Numbers are suggested hv dreams, by all sorts of incidents and episodes -pall according to “cabalistic” principles. • Some people maliciously suggest {Eat the recent big lottery “stunt’* was engineered 'by the Government. But that is not necessary. The credulity of tho people and the desire of the pood to “get rich quickly” are sufficient.

STATE ALWAYS WINS rfow THE PEOPLE FELL IN ODDS UP TO TWO AND A HALF MILLION AGAINST THEM In all such lotteries the people have little chance that) is when compared to the chance the State has of winning. It is similar to the gaming tables of Monte Carlo^—one or two lucky individuals may win a fortune, but the profits to the State gb merrily. on. As to the Charlatan who “named” winning numbers be has probably gone into permanent seclusion!