GAMBLING AMONG WOMEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 75

GAMBLING AMONG WOMEN.

THE PASSION FOR GETTING SOMETHING FOR NOTHING “ Women,” remarked a well-known stockbroker recently, “ are my most enclients. Why? Well, it’s difficult to explain. Perhaps it is that women, as a rule, have much less money than men. Having so little they Avant to make more. Thq average woman is a gambler by instinct.” Probably your own experience has told you that it takes very little to turn an otherwise level-headed woman into a gambler, and “there can he little doubt that gambling among women is on the increase. Some clergymen have been sneered at as “kill joys” because they have forbidden raffles at church bazaars; hut perhaps the prohibition is wiser than the looker-on would imagine. To think that she may secure an exquisitely-worked traycloth for sixpence is an intoxicating thought to the average Avoman. She would even prefer to win some valuable article in this Avay than to receive it as a gift. The mania” for getting something for nothing carries her away absolutely. We have been told of women who have privately organised raffles among their friends, and who have offered lots in theatre tickets, provisions, household utensils, and even jewellery. Now, women who wall only help a charitable cause if there is a chance that they themselves maf also benefit are incapable of generosity. Charity, to he real charity, ought to be entirely aloof from , any thought of a quid pro quo. t The passion for getting something for nothing is one of the most amazing and certainly one of the most unpleasant characteristics' of the age. Women have been known to boast of having dodged a tram conductor, and thus saving their fare. There are others who apply for all the free samples of toilet goods offered in the press, and many young girls shamelessly “cadge” tickets from theatrical managers they happen to know. Women, in this respect, are far bigger offenders than men. It is strange and perplexing to hear a woman boasting of having “done” an official or a tradesman. One can only agree with the stockbroker that women have so little money, comparatively speaking, that they resort to netty subterfuge, and deceptions seldom indulged in by men. Gambling and Bridge.— Perhaps, however, cards, and bridge in particular, have more to do with the increase of gambling .among women than anything else. Since bridge became populate it has become the custom in many houses for women to 'give periodical bridge parties in place of “At homes.” , You often hear a modern hostess say: “Oh, I have no' ‘ At home ’ day, strictly speaking. But you’ll always find me in on alternate Thursdays, and Ave generally play bridge. Noav, bridge is an interesting and engrossing game. It is much better that women who gather together should play cards than destroy -the characters of their acquaintances. It is much better that Mrs A should puzzle over a complicated bridge problem than discuss the misdoings of her servants. Unfortunately, _ the number of women content to play Avithout a thought of making money is extremely small. Penny points may be arranged as a concession to those who really would prefer not to play for money; but to the average Avoman the notion of playing bridge merely for the love of the game is as distasteful as the idea of eating an egg Avithout salt. In clubs as Avell as in private houses it Is the exception to see groups of’women enjoying bridge unless money plays its part in the game. Playing for Money.—

It is almost impossible for a guest to refuse to play for money if her hostess has established the precedent. If the guest is sensitive she will hate bo be re-

garded as a "tyjoil sport,” or as ’too poor to be a bio to afford to play even for benny points. In country-house parties there is absolutely no room for the woman' who objects to gambling. If she won’t play for money she finds herself isolated from the rest of the guests, and regarded aV eccentric. And those silly suburban women who are always so eager to follow the bad example set by the idle rich think it smart to pray for money, and are quite proud if they acquire reputations as gamblers! Gambling at a club is not so reprehensive as gambling m a private house. No man or woman feels obliged to join in a game of cards at his or her club merely because other club members are doing so. In a private house things are on a very different footing. A woman feels it may be rude or inconsiderate if > she objects to her hostess’s methods. Now’, it is not fair to one’s guests to invite them to one’s house, and, -without anypreliminary warning, expect them to play for money. "They may dislike cards to begin with. They may conscientiously object to gambling. Even if they are willing to play for money occasionally on this particular day they may have come unprepared. And, last but not least, they may be genuinely too poor to waste their money in playing a game that may be most unprofitable financially. Spare the Girls.— If you must play cards for money, at 'least have the ordinary courtesy to let your guests know what you expect from them. Don’t ask them to have a cup of tea with you, and carefully forget to add they will be asked to play bridge directly after. And, above all. don’t ask youns* girls to come to your bridge parties. It is always criminal of a-hostess to teach a young girl guest the fascination of gambling, to encourage her to play for higher stakes than she can possibly afford. Gambling is a dangerous pastime, because once its fascination has seized a woman it is almost impossible for her to give it up. Bad luck comes; but that is no lesson.' It is simply an inducement to plaig again in the hope of retrieving- past losses. Parents, if they are wise, will forbid their daughters to' go to , houses where cards are played for money. And parents should £ not be* satisfied with their daughters’ assurance that gambling is not allowed at the houses she visits. Independent inquiries ought to be made, and fathers and mothers ‘ should /be careful to “arrest im-' mediately any tendency towards gambling. What a Good Woman Did. — A sdhsible, good woman can do much to counteract the mania for gambling by giving bridge parties at -which playing for money is resolutely avoided. The writer happens to know of such a woman. She was alarmed at the increase of gambling among her personal friends, and she determined to give bridge parties every week just to show that it is uossible to "lay a thoroughly enjoyable game without a thought of money. At first her friends laughed at her, and most ,of them stayed away. But she persisted in sending out invitations, and gradually they came to be accepted. Young girls came and brought their mothers, and, finding that bridge without gambling was even better than bridge with gambling, they persuaded their acquaintances to give card parties on similar lines. The result is that in the small country town in which this lady, resides 'card-playing for money is not at all fashionable, and is confined mainly to big country houses filled during week-ends with loungers from town. One woman, by force of personality and perseverance, can do very much to make .gambling un- t fashionable, if she is in a position to influence her friends as a hostess. And even the woman who is always guest and never hostess, can do much, also by determinedly, declining to play cards for money. \