STATE LOTTERY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21668, 11 June 1932, Page 13

STATE LOTTERY

UNDER NEW REGIME I THE GAMBLING SPIRIT. (From Oub Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, June 2. ' The fate of one of the Lang Government’s creations —the State lottery—is not only exercising many minds in New South Wales, in the event of the accession to office of the United Australia PartyCountry Party alliance, but it _is also beiiin- watched with even closer interest in the island State of Tasmania and in Queensland. _ , , Little, impecunious Tasmania found itself even shorter of funds when _ its world-famed consultation serious competition with the late New South Wales Government’s Temple pf Chance, which has also made substantial inroads on the hospital revenue from the Queensland Government’s State lottery. Whether the New South Wales lottery will be abolished was not made clear in the United Australia Party’s policy. To Tasmania and Queensland its abolition would, of course, come with a sense of inexpressible joy, since huge sums which formerly went to them for lottery tickets now remain in New South Wales; but, apart from the ethical attitude of the churches, it is quite safe to say that it would be an unwise political move for any party to wipe out the New South Wales lottery. Many quite estimable citizens in the Mother State would like to see it suppressed, but if a referendum were taken a majority of the community would be found in favour of its retenNo one appears to know definitely to what extent the money raised under the aegis of the State lottery for the,support of the hospitals has benefited those struggling institutions, but they are getting at least something out of the State ramble, and the fact remains, apart from the ethics of the issue, that they will get considerablv loss if that money is diverted to the Tasmanian and Queensland consultations. , , There are those who contend that the money raised through the State lottery comes within the category of tainted gain, and that it cannot be purified even if it goes to the humanitarian cause of the hospitals, most of which are in Queer street financially. Such people are entitled, of course, to those beliefs and to the advocacy of them, but the fact remains that the average Australian will have his gamble, whether it is legal or illegal: and that should the lottery be abolished he will indulge his speculative leanings in Tasmania or Queensland, to tlm material loss of New South Wales. The impulse to try to get rich'quick by th° throw of Fortune’s dice is innate m the Australian. Inborn in him also is the love of a gamble, and of these things the politicians, no matter their tenets, are not unmindful. There is the fact, also, dismissed though it may he on ethical grounds, that the great bulk of the big prize-money in New South Wales has gone to peopU who were in poor, and, m manv cases, distressed circumstances.