GAMBLING IN SYDNEY

Otago Witness, Issue 3542, 31 January 1922, Page 22

GAMBLING IN SYDNEY

LIFT-DRIVERS AS COMMISSION AGENTS. (Fkom Ole Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY. January 4. The "Towth of gambling in Sydney has been alarmingly rapid during the last few years, and now its effects are being felt by business establishments. Every building seems to have a commission agent on the premises, that agent in many eases being the lift-driver. One case which had to be cleared up recently revealed that one of the clerks did the bettjr„ f or all hands, the wagers being entirely on credit, and settlement being at the end of the week. Office boys and telegraph messengers can be heard freely expressing tlioir opinions as to what horse will “ win the so-and-so on Saturday.” In one office in which the matter was mentioned a girl clerk declared that the woman lift-driver makes more than her pay out of the commission. What that sort of thing means, especially when the wagering is on the credit system, can easily be seen, and it is declared by some that a bookmaker’s agent is available in every place where there is a large number of hands. In the streets lottotv tiekest are for sale everywhere, the Queensland Government lottery apparently having a big following. Charities of some sort are always appealing with a lottery, women being "seated at bttsv spots in the streets with' placards announcing, “Last, day for a chance to win £IOOO for a shilliug,” and a book open with a pencil ready to write your name, on a ticket. The proposed State lottery of the Dooley-M’Girr Government has not been heard much of lately, but if the plans for childhood endowment are to be carried out, it is diffieul to see how it is to be financed otherwise. . posed upon the industry. Thus it came