A BOOKMAKER “MARTYR”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23109, 8 February 1937, Page 8

A BOOKMAKER “MARTYR”

An Auckland bookmaker, who has served a sentence of imprisonment upon conviction of a breach of the gaming law, has described himself as “ a martyr in the cause of turf progress ” and has expressed a firm belief that “bookmaking legislation in New Zealand would follow as a matter of course.” He has probably been disappointed with the present Government. Some of its members, while they were in Opposition, identified themselves with proposals for the licensing of bookmakers. On more than one occasion the present Minister of Labour introduced a Bill which would have had the effect ojf legalising the practice of bookmaking, and received the support of most of the members of the party that is now in power. It was, therefore, not unreasonable to suppose that the change of Government would be followed by the passage of legislation of this character. A good deal of public dissatisfaction with the law with reference to gaming certainly manifests itself from time to time, and the existence of a considerable amount of sympathy with those persons why defy the law by the practice of bookmaking would seem to be provided by the evidence of the volume of their transactions that is occasionally provided in proceedings in the courts. So extensive are these transactions that the inquiry may even be prompted whether bookmakers would profit greatly by being licensed. But, now that the Labour Party is in power, the policy of Socialism in our own time to which it is committed is one that may conceivably be supposed to be inconsistent with the licensing of bookmakers. The State has undertaken a more complete direction over the lives of the community than the people of the Dominion have ever before known. From the control of the monetary system down to the disposal of bananas, everything is being made a function of the State. The State derives revenue from the legalised betting of racegoers and is put to no cost in obtaining this revenue. During the present racing season, in which the proceeds derived by the State from the totalisator have grown largely, a Minister of the Crown has interested himself in extending the period between races so that greater opportunities may be afforded the people to make their investments and so that, in consequence, the receipts by the Government, as a partner in the totalisator business, may be increased. But no member of the Government has so much as hinted thdt the legalisation of bookmaking is contemplated. The Ministry may even be sympathetic to that desirable reform of the gaming laws which has in the past been opposed by one of the most curious of all combinations —a combination embracing the Church and the bookmakers.