GAMBLING IN AUSTRALIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25866, 9 June 1945, Page 8

GAMBLING IN AUSTRALIA

STAGGERING PROPORTIONS

GREAT WAR-TIME BOOM (Rec. 11 p.m.) SYDNEY, June 8. The staggering proportions which gambling has reached throughout Australia are indicated by a Sydney Morning Herald survey published to-day. From 1934 to 1944 the annual returns of registered bookmakers in New South Wales alone, estimated on their taxation returns, rose from about £10,500,000 to more than £28,500,000. The State’s racecourse totalisator receipts followed the same pattern, rising from about £1,125,000 in 1934 to nearly £4,750,000 in 1944. Some authorities estimate that as much as half of the current betting in Australia is of an illicit nature. Last year no fewer than 6500 persons in New South Wales were convicted for offences of this kind, paying more than £26,000 in fines. While the major betting figures concern horse racing, this is only a section of Australia’s big gambling activity. Wagering on grejmound racing is also considerable. In all New South Wales towns legal “ housie housie ” gatherings are a feature of suburban life and are patronised by their regular tens of thousands. The New South Wales State lottery, which had 67 drawings in 1932, the first year of its existence, increased its drawings to 121 in 1944, when subscriptions rose to the record total of nearly £3,200,000. Lessened wages because of Australia’s reduced war industrial activity are expected to result in smaller betting returns for 1945. But the Commonwealth’s great war-time gambling boom, which some regard as reaching a scale dangerous to the economic as well as to the moral health of the community, is certain to continue in vast proportions.